Wolves Within
by kirinlover
Summary: Axel has been a Lycanthrope long enough to know the rules. Obey your Alpha. Protect the Pack. His Lycan Pack was small and needed the obedience of all. But, why is it that when he saves a human boy in the snow- obeying is the LAST thing on his mind?...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:** The Finding

"Axel."

He didn't respond. He didn't turn towards the small, bundled girl sitting in the passenger's seat. He didn't twitch his nose or even bat an eye in her direction. Nothing.

He simply kept his long fingers curled over the steering wheel and stared out at the slash of gray road that cut through the white.

"Axel, please."

He sighed. A gray puff of smoke slithered away from his lips and out of the open window. The freezing barrage of air outside destroyed the gray wisp, shredding it mercilessly. Axel didn't notice of course. The green eyes never stayed from the yawning white mouth before him. Nor from he gray tongue they hurtled down. He did, though, allow himself to speak.

"We're _lycanthropes, _Namine. Your Sister's heat should be more than enough to warm you."

To this response, he sensed the roll of her grey eyes. She slumped heavily in the mountain of jackets piled around herself. Like the acidic flavor of lemons, her helplessness drifted out of her pores to sting at his nostrils. With a small pursing of the lips, he added another tally to his mental list. He knew exactly how many times he had given the girl this piece of information. _Eight times_. Each time, she seemed to ignore him in a stubbornness that was testament to her still strong humanity.

She was not new to her powers. Her Sister, the wolf-half of her mind and body, had been on many a Hunt. And though the girl looked like a mere sixteen, her milky skin unblemished, her short tresses a pastel yellow- she was in reality over fifty years old. Old enough to be sent on Pack missions with senior packmates. Packmates like him.

Axel leaned a fraction of an inch to his left, sieving through the scents of the air like grains of sand. He smelled pure snow. This scent was a monopoly. Everything was coated in the frozen water as if it was a fur. A part of the skin. The trees, the ground, even the sky were all dipped in the thick paleness of last night's blizzard.

Then, under that, a thin piece of blanket under the mattress and comforter that was snow, was the cinnamon spice of pines and the rich sweetness of earth.

But he did not find a single scent of human or other.

Good. They were not being followed.

His female packmate shuffled in her seat, her soft voice sounding again. This time, just a coarse whisper.

"Axel we've been driving all day. I can't take this weather much longer.. Not if you don't close that window.."

He let loose another steamy exhalation. He couldn't close it. Not when he needed their immediate surroundings readily available to his Brother's sensitive nose. Her safety _was_ important to him. As his subordinate, the fierce instinct to **protect** was a constant needle in this thoughts. But his fingers remained rigid. They dared not soften.

"We're only ten miles away Namine. Once we've delivered the money to Xemnas," his eyes flicked the three stacks of Benjamins tucked beneath his shirt. "-then, you can let your Sister out and enjoy Her fur."

He felt her eyes glaring at him. Digging like icepicks into the profile of his face.

"Orders first. Always orders first," she murmured. Rotund pink fingers came out to pull a cotton hood over her face. She turned so her back was to him, her front straining as far as it could from the frozen window's white-veined face.

"I miss the old you, Ax..."

He stifled a flinch her summoning of the archaic epithet. He was about to say something, a trivial thing about the past, when he smelled it.

_**It.**_

His eyes widened, muscles tightening into metal. The beast inside of him opened a crimson maw to let a black tongue loll.

He leaned heavily into the steering wheel, analyzing the white forest as it whizzed by with frenzied jerks of his irises. He saw nothing. Only the snow. Snow and snow and more snow. The weak line of road. The bleached sky above them with its sagging sun.

Axel did not relax. He couldn't. The scent in the air filled his nose like a unwanted perfume, saturated every breath he drew into his lungs.

HUMAN- it screamed. There was a human somewhere close. And the further the rusted truck hurtled down the empty road, the stronger it grew.

Minutes passed by and the girl stiffened.

She tore off her jackets and pressed her face against the window that had once so repulsed her. He watched from the nicks of his eyes as her chest lifted. Her yellow hair took on a silver glint, her cheeks flushing. Her Sister was close to the surface. About to break from her skin. Never before had Axel so valued his comrade's singular ability to snap her senses into razor sharpness.

She whirled to him, and he, for the first time, allowed his eyes to break from their mark on the windshield to meet the face of the girl.

"_Stop!_" she mouthed to him and, without hesitation, he slammed his foot on the breaks. The tires floundered, unable to grip onto the grit of the asphalt. It was slick with ice. The truck began to serpentine. Weaving madly across frozen road and chunky snow. Axel clenched his molars, willing with all his might for some spark of friction.

Distantly, he noted a new shivering of the wall of pines. Their needles writhed. The snow eddied and swirled as if caught in water...

The front of wind hit them like colliding car. Axel felt the metal frame jerk backwards. The truck began to slow and he almost could have smiled in triumph. Almost.

The truck crawled to a stop, a mess of white powder curtaining the windshield. Axel and Namine let out a collective breath. Only a hand-sized piece of the shield remained transparent. It was in this small glimpse of glass that he saw it.

Saw the thing that had dipped into his packmate's senses and DEMANDED a stop.

The human.

It was nearly as white as everything else. It moved like a wounded thing, dragging itself onto the road with slurred motions. It was hunched and blocky, resembling more a sickly bear than a man. But Axel felt the scent. Felt it as acutely as a fire pulsing inside of his mouth.

He turned sharply to the girl. "Stay here," he barked out. She nodded. Her hair had returned to its limpid yellow. Her shivers started back up and she burrowed into the seat's padding. He rolled up his window while he opened the door. He cast a small look at his passenger. The gray orbs were fixed upon him. Not angry, as they had been before. Or miserable. Only keenly alert. "Get him in here fast," came her muffled call.

He grimaced and shut the door behind him. The air was knife sharp and the snow numbingly cold. But he ignored both completely. With lupine lopes, he glided the human and wiped the snow from its face with ruddy thumbs.

Axel felt his heart do a flip at the sight he uncovered.

It was a boy. As old as, if not a little older than, the appearance of the female in the car. His skin was nearly colorless. His lips carried a blue tint and the eyes, dusted with snow, were closed in a mask of comatose.

Axel cursed under his breath. The boy was near death.

He didn't understand why this bothered him so. He didn't even know why they had stopped to witness the youngling human collapse in the first place. But his instincts had his arms wrapping themselves around the motionless form, hauling it against his chest. He did not argue or pause for thought. He had learned through the sharp discipline of fangs and claws to _never_ question his instincts.

In a split-second he was back at the truck, wrenching open the backseat door. He batted away empty cans and trash and laid the boy across the length of the seat. With careful swipes, he cleared the snow from his body. From the blond spikes of his hair. From the puffy cotton of his coat. With that done, he tried to pull off his sweater. It caught the stacks of money at his waist. With a snarl, he impatiently grabbed the offending paper and- at loss of a safer place to put it- crammed it into the boy's jeans. In that location, he could keep a wary eye on them both. Freed, he tore the sweater over his head. It came over the boys a second later. Axel worked the limp arms through the sleeves and tucked the end of it over his waistband. The boy swam in the sweater and Axel was glad for it. The warmth that lingered in its woolen threads brought a drop of color back to the youth's cheek.

A moment later, Namine was offering up her own collection of outer-wear. Jackets, wind-breakers, coats were all pulled off her own person to drape around the small frame of the boy's. Axel did not thank her. He didn't even look at her. For another reason beyound his understanding, she too shared his primal need to see to the human's survival.

When the boy was sufficiently encumbered in fabric, Axel lent down and put his nose to the boy's neck. He smelled decay. But in the usual amounts. All humans smelled of decay, their bodies constantly aging. He also smelled a resurgence of blood. The heart was beating again. The blood was flowing again. Axel closed his eyes in a flood of relief. Then he frowned.

Why should **he** care?

Letting the youngling's blood scent swirl in his nose a little longer than necessary, Axel pulled back and lightly shut the truck's door.

He climbed into his own seat, and let the metal slam behind him with a satisfying "thump".

The green gaze he sent his packmate's way was laden with a myriad of emotions. Joy. Rage. Most potently of all: confusion.

She vibrated in her only remaining sweater, and the grin she sent his was fluttering like a white wing.

"I can't _wait_ to see you explain this to Alpha."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:** Choices

Axel knew the exact moment when the truck crossed into Pack territory.

It was like an electrical shock to his senses. A jolt of raw energy that coursed through his every vein and nerve.

He let out a steamy exhalation and felt his Brother wolf rise up to press against the membrane of his skin.

_Wait. Not yet. _He bid his true self, unable to stop tiny transformations the pack-contact inspired. The lengthening of his canines. The thinning of his pupils.

Swiftly, he parked the car a ways off the road. He uncurled his fingers from the steering wheel, bones crackling, and turned to his pack member. She, too, was affected. Her back was hunched. Her eyes flashed silver.

Axel opened his mouth to give her a command, when she unlocked the door and slipped out. He shut it slowly. Namine was not listening to him. _As usual_. He listened distantly as she opened the truck's back door. Snow crunched as she backed away. The swish of fabric- clothing being removed.

His eyes widened as another shock coursed through his body. With a frown, he exited the truck and walked to the other side. A white, peachy wolf the size of a small bear was seated in the ice drift, shaking her bushy ears.

"So soon? We're not even in the trees yet," he said softly. The wolf that was Namine smiled, black gums displaying a bright collection of white teeth. Her metallic eyes twinkled in humor before she casually crawled into the back of the truck. The vehicle's frame creaked loud enough to put him on edge.

_Why is she..?_

He peered inside. Then it all came back to him.

_The boy, buried in the snow. Dragging his body into their truck, layering him with fabric. A red nose. The sound of shallow breaths. _

His heart pounded loudly before he conquered the emotion. He was stone-still as Namine curled around the swaddled human. She tucked him gently between her paws, her wet nose rubbing color into his throat.

Axel sighed, running a hand through his crimson hair.

A delay. The boy would only delay them. Already, he felt the Pack gathering. Giant wolves of grey, white and black, converging on one clearing in the woods. A lone wolf blazed like a tower of light, basking the land with oppressive heat. The Alpha.

Axel felt this heat on his neck now. They were all waiting on him. Wolves did _not_ like to be kept waiting.

He released his grip on the door of the truck. When his hand was gone, the impression of it remained dented into the metal. He rolled his eyes. _Fantastic._ He poked his head into the back, hardly any room left. Most of it was filled with flaxen fur and a shaggy tail.

"Namine, we don't have time for this," he warned, his voice beginning to dip into lower octaves. He coughed, wondering how much longer his human form would last with the Pack getting ever closer. Axel was an older wolf. He had held his glamour through thick and thin. Through running out of burning warehouses, swimming through frigid lakes. He had even held it with his Pack, there with him, in the city. Occasionally, a job called for all of the wolves. And even instincts screaming for claws and fangs were ignored in favor of keeping up pretexts.

But there in the forest, it was that much harder. The scent of trees. The taste of snow and rain. The demanding call of the Alpha. All of it was a blend that was tearing at his control. The last thing he wanted to think about was the small boy snoring softly in his truck.

Axel sighed again. Yet there he was, worriedly searching the human's face for signs of returning strength. The signs were good. He refused to feel pleased by this.

His eyes met the lupine ones of his partner. "Leave the boy. We should already be gone from this place." Namine shook her head, emitting a sharp bark. _No._ Axel frowned, taking off his jacket, loosening the clasp of his belt. _You __know__ you want to protect him. At least __**I**__ am following my instincts, _she said with her eyes. "My instincts are telling me to finish this job. _That _is all that matters here." He pulled off his shirt, hardly feeling the winter air. He tossed the jumble into the front seat and leaned in, intent on scooping the boy out of her fur and throwing him out of their lives for good. When his hands found the innermost sweater, he pulled.

What met him was an open pair of sapphire eyes, clear and haunting like looking glasses.

Axel tensed. He wanted to bolt for some reason. The eyes seemed to see too much. It felt horrible. It felt like a threat. "So, you're lycanthropes eh?" the boy said, his voice deeper than expected. He brushed blond spikes of hair out of his eyes and looked up to inspect the fur pillowing his legs. "Wow. I'd heard rumors but…..," he met Axel's eyes again. "-damn."

He was stunned into silence for only a moment. Then, he tore himself away to gaze into Namine's laughing face. "He is alive. We go. **Now**." He hauled the boy out of the cozy box the backseat had become and set him on his feet. The boy's heart beat calmly with this the stiff arches of his arms. Axel was a little impressed at this. Usually, humans did not react well when faced with giant animals. Especially, giant wolves- a natural predator.

But the boy was not afraid. His blood was not spiked with fright; his heart did not pump with adrenaline. Was his head still fogged with fever? Axel glowered down into his face, disregarding the piercing, blue stare. "So you know what we are. Keep this information to yourself or I will kill you. Understood?" Axel growled, letting show his long fangs. The boy simply blinked. "I understand. But, I'm not leaving. I'm going with you."

Namine nosily squeezed herself out of the truck. When she was back on land, she shook herself and began to knead her paws into the snow. Axel, beginning to feel frustrated, threw the boy against the truck. He had only just managed to get his footing when Axel was there, in his face, fisting hands in the layers of the boy's coats.

"_No_."

The boy didn't even flinch. Didn't stare at Axel's bare chest. Nor the glossy wolf to their side, busily itching behind her ear. He didn't even notice the claws beginning to prick at his skin. His eyes were only for Axel's. "You can't leave me here. You saved me. Now- you're stuck with me. That's all there is to it."

_Oh ho! The human's got you now Ax!_ Namine trumpeted in a series of yips. Axel pinned her with a rumbling snarl. She submitted quickly, lowering her ears. The grin never left her lips.

He turned back to the boy, muscles quivering. He wanted to kill him, right there. How easy it would be. Nobody would know. He felt his hair began to stand on end, his bones begin to lengthen and fracture.

His Brother wolf finally spoke up.

_He goes with us. Now **let me out. **_

Axel put his face so close to the boy's their noses crashed against each other. "You have no idea what you've just gotten yourself into _human_." He released the boy and stepped back. Without a thought for modesty, he ripped off his jeans and let fur consume his body.

Just as Namine's transformation had jolted his senses, his own transformation was like bathing in fire. It was not painful, even though his whole genetic structure was tearing apart and knitting back together in the span of a fraction of a second. It was refreshing. Invigorating. Being born again.

When, he opened his eyes, the new colors of the world throbbed in neon hues. He shook out his warm fur. It was russet. Brown, bordering on red. A unique coloring among their Pack. Axel let out a breath and turned. Namine was at his side, ready to sprint. With that, he almost tumbled into a run. He would have, too, if not for the nagging little prick in his mind. It was like a stuck needle. Incessant, impossible to ignore. He turned grudgingly to the truck.

The blond boy leaned against it, his eyes glittering. Axel crossed to him briskly, and found his chest to be a hand's breadth below the red nose. _Good. He is not as puny as I feared._ He stared down at him. He could feel the fear- oh yes, he felt it now- just a little flutter beneath his pulse. He could taste the weariness in his limbs, the emptiness of his stomach. The raw urge to care for him, again, bathed his instincts. He pressed his ears to his skull, a loud growl rumbling in his throat. _No. No, this should not be..._

Then, he was belly down in the snow. Before he knew what was happening, the boy had his hands in his fur. Axel shivered, his skin feeling super-sensitized. Small, pink hands leisurely rolled through his ruff. The wolf blinked. It felt…._good_. With the next blink, he was back to his senses. He whipped his snout around and prodded the boy roughly in the back. _Hurry up you fool! _The youth flinched, and clamored onto his back ungracefully.

It took him five minutes of slipping and heaving before he was splayed out along Axel's spine like a dead thing. He sighed when he was settled.

"I'm…Roxas, by the way."

His voice was faint. Only a puff of mist. Axel ignored the offered name and walked slowly to test the situation. The boy delved deeper into the fur of his haunches, hands tight balls and legs like clamps. _Good. It would do_. Axel threw a look over his shoulder. _Good luck, boy. You're going to need it. _

He turned to Namine. She was making little jumps in the snow, her tails sweeping like a broom over dust. _Now?_ she squeaked, pupils as narrow as pine needles. The need to meet the Pack had finally hit her. Now, she was a mess of nerves and energy. The Alpha's demands were like hot coals on their senses. Burning and searing until they complied.

_Now. _

The massive wolves burst into motion in streaks of white and brown.

Axel felt truly alive as he raced into the forest. The pads of his paws brushed the snow only for moments. He was an arrow in the empty wind. Trees flowed past him in a monotonous stream. He was going far too fast to make out any solid details. Bark, leaves, ground and snow all welded into a single blur that moved around him but could not touch him.

His throaty breaths poured out past his lips in currents of steam. The boy on his back was glued to his fur. Luckily, Axel's lopes were so fluid and quick, his bones hardly felt any impact. The boy was buoyed in a land of peace and warmth upon his shoulders. Not that he intended any such comfort for the human. He was just too graceful a runner to do otherwise.

Axel dismissed his mind and obeyed only his nose. The scents of his packmates were like trails of paint, blaringly colorful against the pallid landscape. He followed that of his Alpha's- a thick, spicey odor that pulled him like iron to a magnet. He flew over it. The scent built up in his nose until his skull was bursting with it. Suddenly, the pounding on his senses stopped. His mind and spirit were released from their spell.

He dug his front paws into the snow and slid to a stop. A minute later, Namine danced to a hault besides him, taking a few extra steps more. Her tongue lolled as she heavily panted.

_We're here…. _

* * *

><p>The tall pines formed a coliseum around them. Tall, impenetrable. Locking the outside word tightly out, keeping its victims chained tightly within.<p>

Axel caught his breath silently as he met the eyes of three of his packmates. Siax, the Alpah's second. A wolf so black his fur had a blue sheen to it. Lexaeus, the biggest wolf of them all. Tawny with touches of orange around his snout and ears. Zexion. The smallest of the Pack outside of Namine. He was gray, with dark rings around his rain-blue eyes. All together, they were one of two teams. The Pack at its fullest contained 13 wolves.

Axel's team sat in a half circle, sitting under the dappled shadows of the trees. Lexaeus leaned heavily on his fore-paws, as if eagerly anticipating an oncoming show. Axel felt his whiskers tingle. That did not bode well for him... He glanced at Siax. The inky wolf sat nonchalantly, as usual. But his golden eyes were trained on Axel with a fixation that had his paws growing sweaty. He didn't even need to read Zexion. The other two's postures explained everything.

Late. They were late. And everyone knew it.

Fighting the cold dread building in his bowels, he at last turned to the Alpha.

Xemnas.

The brown wolf was sitting in the center of the clearing. His topaz eyes were drinking in every inch of Axel. Searching. Calculating. _He's has already decided what he is going to do with me. All of this is just a show. _His lips itched to snarl but he held them still.

Suddenly, the brown wolf got to its feet and let out a sharp bark. The signal for the meeting to begin.

As one, all of the wolves melted back into their human forms. Axel had completely forgotten about the boy until he found himself standing in the snow with two arms locked in a death grip around his neck. He choked and quickly knelt to let the boy-Roxas. Yes, Roxas- touch the ground. The boy stiffly unwound himself and put his arms around his knees, huddling at Axel's feet.

"Stay low," he whispered, before looking up.

As they all stood there nude in the snow, Xemnas approached. In human glamour, the male was no less intimidating. His skin was still dark brown and his hair white. The contrast was jarring to most people, instilling fear and unease in them from the second they caught sight of him. His eyes he refused to change. They were still deep topaz with dark lashes, as inhuman as possible.

Axel breathed calmly as the taller man walked with steps that oozed grace. He was in no hurry. He was even smiling. Axel felt Namine tense up at his side. But she would not bear his anger. She was lucky. As the more dominant member, Axel was the one who would suffer punishment.

When Xemnas was not more than a foot away, he spoke. "So, Axel…. What's this we have here?" His gaze crushed the red-head, an anvil upon his shoulders. Axel thinned his lips, refusing to show the shaking of his limbs. He did not look at the boy. If he dared show attachment to the mortal, he would undoubtedly be killed. Such weaknesses were **not** permitted. Yet….the thought of Roxas's murder was not an appealing one. In fact, it was so _unappealing_, that it made tendrils of anger begin to wrap themselves around his heart.

"He was dying in the snow on my way here. I picked him up." The simple truth.

But, the game was far from over. Xemnas silkily leaned over Axel's shoulder, fixing his unsettling glare on the crouched boy. "What is one dead human?" he asked softly. The Alpha straightened. His frown was like a slap in the face. "I told you to be here _five minutes ago._ Is a human more important than my orders?" His voice was hard now. Lethal. Axel kept his gaze level.

"No."

Xemnas smiled, razor fangs winking at him like blades. He turned around to meet the stare of his Second. "Do you follow this, Siax? Axel says my orders matter to him. Yet, he clearly disobeyed them to bring this…," gilded irises flicked to Roxas. ",-this disgusting little creature here."

As Lycanthropes, it was in their blood, their DNA to despise humans. Though they were few in numbers, their awesome abilities put them far above the graceless bumbling of humanity. Yet, humans still ruled the world. Lycans still slunk in the shadows, hiring out their pinnacles of strength and speed to the highest buyer. That is what Xemna's Pack was renowned for. His members all had unusual levels of skill, even among Lycans. Perhaps it was this greatness that made Xemnas so hateful of humans. So strong, so powerful, and yet still second on the food chain.

Siax's eyes glowed in the shade. "He has gone soft, Alpha. He has been in the city too long."

Axel stiffened. It was true. He had spent little over two months among the stinking dwellings of humans, selling himself as bodyguard and mercenary to earn the 15 grand he presently carried in his….

In his…

His eyes widened. Xemnas caught the movement, dark lips curling.

_The money._ He had forgotten the money. He had left it in his pants. His pants that he had thrown in the truck. It all came back to him now.

**Shit. **

Xemnas must have read his mind. "Where's my money, Axel?" he asked softly. He closed the gap between them. His face was so close to Axel's he could feel his breath. Automatically, the lesser wolf submitted. It was Pack Law. Axel fell to his knees, the powdered snow stinging against the freshly sensitive skin. Over his bowed head, he felt Xemnas look at the boy hungrily.

"I…I do not…"

"What?" the Alpha purred. Axel stared in horror at brown feet. He had never messed up like this before. _Ever_. Even in comparison to hulking wolves like Lexeaus and Siax, Axel was strong. He ran faster than any of them, so light on his paws he soared. Naturally, this transferred into his human guise. He was a flawless killer. The perfect assassin.

He actually had no idea how to confess his failure. He had never _failed_ before…

His throat was dry in utter shock.

"I…"

With a prickling of his neck, he felt Xemna's hand strike out like a viper. He grabbed the boy by his neck and dangled him in the air.

Axel gasped, snapping his eyes up.

He had just broken Pack Law. When forced to submit by one's Alpha, one never raise his eyes.

The three men around him started, moving forwards to reprimand him. But they didn't interfere. They, too, were bound.

Axel didn't notice though. His eyes were fixed to Roxas.

Xemnas had raised the boy to his eye-level. One long hand was clamped around his pale throat. The boy clutched at the wrist, gasping for air nosily like a fish. "You!" The Alpha bared his fangs again and Roxas let out a broken cry. Axel wanted to move. He _ached_ to move. But years and years of tradition held him to the ground in prostration.

"_You_ have my money, don't you? You little filth!"

Axel felt his heart miss a beat.

No. _**No.**_ He remembered now. He had laid the boy in the backseat. He had taken the money stacks from _his own person_ and tucked them into the boy's jeans, with the idea of reclaiming it once they stopped. But his judgment had been so _skewed_ once they arrived at the forest. His instincts bleeding into his mind, sapping away reason.

_I forgot to take the money back. Now, Xemnas will kill him. Then, he will go after me._

"You stole it, didn't you?" Xemnas was screaming at the boy now, his façade of sleek control fracturing like cracked ice. His scorn was bubbling up. Black claws burst from his fingers. With one hand easily holding the boy in the air, the other ripped open his jackets like paper.

Axel made a strangled noise, struggling to fight his instincts. _I must protect him!_

_No. _His Brother wolf said, locking his joints._ Obey._ _Let Alpha do what he wants. He is __**Alpha.**_

Axel watched in horror as the boy's clothing fell in scraps around him. Angry red gashes streaked across his chest, fresh blood dripping across his pale skin. The stacks of money shown bright green in the waist band of his jeans. Xamnas smiled savagely, and whisked the fat bundles away before the boy's blood sullied them.

He tossed the stacks over his shoulder, not even looking. Siax caught them wordlessly.

Xemnas' attention was ensnared completely by his prey. "You were a fool to come here, boy. Now, you get to witness first hand what we do best."

He drew back the bloodied hand, claws gleaming wetly in the light. The boy's face was covered in tears. His legs writhed ineffectually. His hands scrabbled at the manacle at this throat. Blood spilled everywhere, staining the snow. But there was nothing he could do. He was an instinct under the force of Xemnas' brutality.

Axel saw the boy die in his mind. Saw the body sink to the ground. Pictured the clear blue eyes grow dim.

_**NO!**_

Axel faced his Brother wolf in the caverns of his heart and beat him down with a mighty blow. He wrested control, and was covered in fur and fangs before anyone had time to draw a breath.

He bellowed a roar that shook the trees. Like lightening, he pummeled Xemnas into the snow. The man was too stunned even to open his mouth. Taking advantage of his silence, Axel snared the man's neck with his teeth and flung him against the nearest tree. His spine snapped like a hundred twigs when he hit it.

The Alpha sunk to the ground, knocked out. Not dead. It would be harder than that. Plus, he could not kill his Alpha, though every string of sense in him screamed otherwise.

Deep, deep down in his soul, he pled forgiveness. Longed to submit.

But that was deep. Only a whisper.

With blood dripping from his gaping maws, he whirled on the men watching him with wild eyes. Electricity scorched through his system. He would take down every last one of them if he had too. None of them moved. None of them had orders.

Axel jumped back to the boy. He was twisted in the snow, his skin as ashen as when he had first found him.

_I am not going to lose him. I won't._

Then, a slim, pale blonde girl was there, wrapping the boy in her arms and leaping upon his shoulders. Namine. He looked frantically up at her. She was nestling the boy carefully in his fur, trying the stem the bleeding with her hands.

"_Go!"_ she shrieked.

Axel needed no more motivation. With a velocity he had never before reached, he shot through the trees like light. He even had trouble breathing, seeming to out run even the air itself.

But he didn't care. His heart was dying in his chest as he felt acutely, blazingly, the drops of Roxas' blood seep into his pelt.

_Save him Namine,_ he plead silently, diving through the frosty forest. From the moment he had seen the boy, his instincts had woven the human into his fate. Now, his instincts has once again made the choice. The boy was a part of him now. For good or for worse.

_Save him, Namine, and save us all. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**: Exile

Axel recalled the trip to town in shredded patches.

_Hurtling through the snow-dipped forest. Ice, burning cold, on the pads of his feet. Run, run, run. Never stop. Breathe! Take in another rattling gulp of air. Now **run.** _

_Then, they were back at the truck. It looked like a thing from the distant past. An archaic construction that had once moved, but now was just another bump on the surface of the earth, drowned in snow. The door had been left ajar. The inside of the barren monolith was as white as its shell. _

_Then Axel was running on human feet. He didn't bother to dig in the ocean of ice for pants or shoes. He simply threw himself into the driver's seat and twisted the keys into the ignition. A heartbeat of a moving, maze of metal and gushing black blood. The truck remembered how to live. _

_Swerving down the road without a single thought towards careening off into the trees or flipping into a fiery explosion. He didn't have time to think about control. Or safety. They just needed to get out. Out of the forest. Away from the range of noses and the taste of tongues. GET OUT._

_Pounding in his ears. Cold wind tearing at his throat. Keep breathing. The truck shaking- unused to being pushed to such speeds. How fast were they going? Who knew. The speedometer was a porcelain dish. His knuckles already gleamed with a new crusting of snow. His cheeks felt raw; flayed by the sharp, cold blades of wind. _

_Why….why were they going so fast?..._

_He could kill them!_

_A glance over his shoulder. _

_Namine, her head moving rhythmically over…over a body. A small body with ragged, red cracks gaping in its chest. _

_The boy. _

No.

_A thin, pink tongue running down the length of each rip. Lapping away blood, leaving a web of saliva in its place. She was helping the blood clot. Helping to keep the bright, saffron liquids of life inside their proper vessel. _

_Eyes back on the grey, glassy road. Pushing down harder on the gas. _

Live. He must live.

_The back door flopped loudly. It didn't close anymore. Axel had broken the frame with his grip, disrupting the seal. The banging echoed like gunshots in his head. The smell of the boy's salty tears. The noxious fumes of his own fear. _

**Drive! **

_So he did. _

* * *

><p>He didn't let up until he passed the first houses and billboards that ringed the edges of the suburb.<p>

The truck slowed down to 45. It shook and sputtered, crawling like a wounded animal.

Axel only hoped it would make it a couple more miles. It's all he needed.

He yearned desperately to look over his shoulder. His eyes had been glued to the road unblinkingly for so long. Axel ventured a little neck swivel. The muscles there flamed in protest. He winced and gave up.

"Namine?" he croaked. He had forgotten to roll up his window. Now, his chest had acquired a sweater of ice crystals and his nose was a slab of sleet. But he was a Lycan. Physical frailty was an issue for humans. Not for him. His heart worked like a piston beneath his ribs. He could still go on for years like this, needing no food, no warmth.

"Namine-,"

"_He's alive_," she snapped. Axel frowned. She was weary. He could feel the weight of his packmate's breaths. Unable to resist, he glared at the rear-view mirror. The girl was curled over her patient. Parched lips still ghosted over the boy's wounds. Thankfully, the lacerations had successfully scabbed over. But the skin housing them was as brittle as the flakes outside.

He didn't let himself look at the boy's face.

Shakily, Axel began to scour the frosty dashboard with an available hand. Five minutes of searching more, and he found it. Madly, he whipped open the cell phone and punched in the only number he knew.

The dial tone lasted for eternity. Time enough to die and live and die again.

A hitch in the sound. A voice. _"Hey bro!"_

"Demyx. I'm bringing a boy to you. Bring all your medical gear, if you have any left."

"_Woah woah woah-a boy? A human? _

Here, the sound perhaps of fingers tangling through hair.

_-Ax, what have you _done_?"_

"We'll be there in five minutes. I need your help, Demyx. Please… I…I-," He didn't know what else to say. Emotions were swelling in his throat, choking him. He hung up.

He heard a small sigh of relief behind him.

"Ah. Demy. I missed him."

Axel turned right and began a search for pants and a shirt. "Get a jacket on him. And be careful."

* * *

><p>They reached the hotel complex with the truck heaving. Axel parked it and turned it off with a noise of disgust. <em>Rusty, piece of shit.<em> Whatever happened next, they would be doing it on foot.

He leaped from his seat and sprinted over to the back. The door had accumulated a number of dents and scratches, looking more like a bruised apple than metal. He grit his molars and batted it aside. Namine had squirmed into an oversized parka. It covered her from neck to knees. Her face had been mostly scrubbed from blood aside from the brown specs of it that peppered her hair. The boy was wrapped in a blanket.

From what inky crevice she had pried it from, Axel could only guess at.

With gentle hands, he guided the two of them onto the parking lot's glittering asphalt.

Namine adjusted her grip, carrying Roxas in her arms as if he weighed nothing more than an infant. In reality, he was more like a feather. "Is his head supported?" he asked, intrigued and ashamed by the new tenderness in his voice. The girl smiled, looking much older than her fifty summers. "Yes. It is." He narrowed his eyes. Axel brushed the layer of snow from his skin and pulled a sweater out from under a seat. After jamming his arms through the sleeves, he drew the hood over his ears and looked down imposingly at his packmate.

With a pause too small to be humanly recognizable, he lowered his face to the boy's- eyes averted. Only with his keen hearing did he pick it up. The shallow, rattling noise. The boy's lungs. It sounded ghastly, but at least it was a sound.

He swallowed thickly and tore himself away. "Tread lightly," he said briskly to Namine, restoring their roles. Needing a shred of normalcy. She followed _him_. That was Pack law.

Axel shivered, cold sweat beading on his neck.

_We're not apart of the Pack anymore…are we?..._

The realization was too alien a concept to examine quite yet. He buried the thought and walked on.

His senses were stretched as tight as a bow string and his eyes were constantly in motion. Every detail caught his attention. The squeaking of breaks and the rev of engines. Birds flying from buildings and telephone lines. Pedestrian's constant patter of footsteps ahead.

Axel took in a deep breath, dampening his ears and nose. He needed to be on alert. But…not to this extreme. He would go mad if he kept it up any longer. He let Namine catch up. "Stay close behind me. If anyone's eyes stay on you for too long, get lost in the crowd and meet up with me later." Silver irises flashed like coins in the sun. "It'll be _fine, _Axel." He looked at her.

He remembered. When Xemnas had struck and he had reacted, she had stayed by his side and fled. _With _him. She could have stayed still. She could have let him go, loyal to the Pack. Her name would have remained untarnished. Her standing would have been secure.

Now, he was an outcast and he had dragged her along with him.

He cupped her face with a hand, Siax's words looping in his mind.

_He's grown soft. He's grown soft. Soooofffftttt. _

"…Thank you, Namine," he bit out. She was taken aback for a second, before laughing and wriggling out of his grip. "Come on! Let's go find Demy and get this over with." Axel stiffened and looked at the boy. His ghost-pale visage had him walking even faster.

When the two of them were almost to the hotel's sliding doors, he caught hold of a familiar scent. His eyes fluttered shut. Saltwater. Lacquered wood. Those were the essence of Demyx. Something snapped in his mind like a crunched twig. He steered them away from the entrance and into the shadows of the towering building.

Predictably, the lithe man was there to meet them. Axel studied the friend he had not seen in over 30 years. Namine was the first to spot the most notable change in him. "Demy- your hair!" she squeaked. The man looked to Namine, blinking rapidly. Then his ears heated and grinned. "Oh- this?" he said, trailing fingers through the tawny Mohawk running down the center stripe of his skull. "This is nothing. You should see me when I'm a wolf. Looks god-awful but. Eh... I don't change much these days." Namine continued to stare, enchanted, at the structure. Axel grabbed the once pack member's shoulder, the hotel's red uniform crinkling under his hold.

"Demyx, we need a room. Anything. I don't have any money but…I can get you some in a couple days." He knew he was squeezing too hard. He knew he probably looked demented. But he was running out of time. Demyx nodded, eyes flicking over the boy. "Follow me."

A seasoned employee, he led them down halls and alleys with little to no encounters. They met other staff only three times, to which Demyx gave a nod and continued on his way. Then they entered one of the hotel's smaller buildings and, after ascending one flight of stairs and executing a couple of turns, found themselves facing a worn door.

Demyx unlocked it with a produced key and revealed a rectangle of black.

"This used to be a lounge. But, this hotel just keeps growing. Everybody's forgotten about it by now." He walked into the shade and after a 'click', illuminated the small space.

Axel looked around. The room was tiny, but big enough for their purposes. Everything was coated in dust. An empty vending-machine, a scuffed mini-fridge and a beaten couch were its only occupants. The bland, red carpet underfoot was the cleanest of the furnishings. Demyx took some of the cushions and shook them. The avalanche of dust that took the room soon stemmed all further attempts at cleanliness. He threw the cushions down and turned to them. "Okay. Now tell me what's going on." His usually bright blue eyes had turned glacial. Axel nodded wearily and motioned to Namine.

With surgical precision, the girl drew down Roxas' blanket. His pale face looked dead. Only the sheen of sweat on his head suggested otherwise. Namine continued to slowly reveal his bare torso. Demyx frowned and stepped closer to the boy. The giant scabs had cracked and some of them wept tiny drops of blood.

"This is bad." His brow furrowed, knowledge of medicines and treatments cycling behind his eyes. After a pause, he turned a dark face to Axel. "What happened here?"

Eons ago, Demyx had been apart of the Pack. He had been its one and only medic, until Xemnas had deemed him a hindrance. Demyx was not a fighter or a killer. Thus, he could bring in no money as the others did. Instead, he had taken to healing. But, Xemnas prized only bloodshed. After only ten years since he reached maturity, the smaller wolf had been excommunicated and cast out with nothing more than half his life left. Bloodied and broken, Demyx crawled back to humanity, hiding away, never to be seen again. Until now.

Axel clenched his fists. Demyx and he had been teammates. Had been _friends_. And Axel had just stood there while Xemans tossed him out like garbage. It was only through weekly phone-calls that the two stayed in secret contact. Axel sent him money every now and again to fuel the Lycan's habit for collecting expensive action figurines and other toys. Plus, Demyx liked having a familiar ear to chat off, going on about TV shows (Axel did not watch television, and was always lost) and celebrity gossip.

If not for those shallow services, Axel would have felt guilty. Too guilty even to _talk_ to the wolf he hadn't lifted a finger to aid….

And now the tables had turned. Now he was the exile, begging for the very assistance Demyx had been denied.

He sighed, feeling decades younger. Decades more foolish.

"Alpha…-I mean Xemnas-," Blue eyes widened. One never addressed the Alpha by his given name. Axel's use of it meant only one thing... "-tried to kill this boy. I stopped him. Now, Namine and I are on the run." Demyx turned worried eyes to the girl. She blushed prettily and adjusted her burden. "I...I couldn't just let Axel run off with out me." The man's eyes softened and he touched her hair fondly.

The three of them had been close, even by Pack standards. Axel shook his head. _Don't think about that. It's all gone now._

"I need to heal this boy." He let out a frustrated growl and forcibly guided Namine to the couch. "We've already wasted too much time!" Reminiscing over, the girl carefully laid Roxas out on the couch. The boy frowned, his pain acidic in the air. Axel felt his stomach knot and turned stark eyes on Demyx. "Will he make it?"

The air changed. Demyx drew up his knowledge over him like a cape. He bent down and sniffed the wounds. "They're not infected, which is good." He spared a glance at Namine. "Thanks to someone's cleaning." The girl ran a tongue over her top lip and looked at the ceiling, unable to fully mask her pride. They medic's eyes moved constantly. With the utmost care, his hands prodded and analyzed flesh. "Hmmm the cuts are more-or-less superficial. Deeper here by the collar bone. But I don't smell any damage to the lungs. Perhaps a few knicked ribs." Demyx sat back and bolstered his chin between two fingers. "I'm going to have to soften these scabs and stitch the wounds back together. ….-Then ointment, then gauze, then…." he lapsed off into muttering. Axel swallowed. He forced himself to stand idly by until Demyx met his stare. "I need to go to the supply closet and get my stuff." At Axel's look, he smiled sheepishly. "I always keep my gear near by. Good thing, too." He stood up and walked to the doorway. But he didn't leave.

His blue gaze took Axel in. The bare feet. The dirty jeans and sweater, still partially doused in snow. Then to Namine. She was toying with the ends of her yellow hair. Again, his eyes went markedly gentle. Axel noticed then what he had never noticed before.

_He never once asked about her..._

Axel felt his thoughts grow even more dismal. Demyx's attention was back on him. "It's….good to see you again, Ax. Keep the boy warm and see if he won't eat something. There's some food in the fridge. I stocked it a couple days ago." A shrug, suggesting his food-borne visits to the lonely lounge. "I'll be back as fast as I can."

With that, the man was gone. Axel quickly shut the door behind him.

Then he stood there.

Long fingers hung limply on the knob.

Demyx had yet to show him resentment throughout their entire conversation. He could have. Axel had burst into his workplace, demanded lodging and, to top it all off, asked for him to save a life. The hand tightened. Metal squeaked. Jerkily, he let go. The doorknob was misshapen. Axel sighed. _And, now I've made this little room that more ugly. _Demyx hadn't resented him. Hadn't disapproved or been angry. He had just helped him. Without a word otherwise.

_He's the Lycan I will never be. _

Vowing to make it up to his friend, Axel took one long stride and was kneeling by the boy. Namine rummaged noisily in the small cooler box, making alternating mewls of disgust or fascination. He was about to bark out an order, when he stopped himself.

_Let her have her fun. _

Axel ran a hand through his long hair. It was bright red, an unnatural color among humans. It brushed his shoulders like a mane. _I'm going to have to cut it off. All of it._ It wasn't a big loss. He only hoped his fur would not suffer because of it. Demyx's comment came back to bite at his thoughts.

"_You should see me when I'm a wolf. Looks god-awful."_

He wondered morbidly when the last time Demyx had let his Brother wolf run through the grass, or feel the sunshine on his ears and tail. _Are Namine and I to have the same fate? Condemned to this form…always?..._

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. Whatever they had to do to keep the boy safe, they would. Change their appearance, live in the shadows. The Pack would be after their blood, he knew. Xemnas would not rest until he was avenged. Axel growled, a deep rumbling in his naval. _I will kill him next time. I __**will.**_

The boy's grunt drew him out of the murky depths of his mind.

Axel leaned over him. The air in the room was warm, thankfully. No more of the biting cold they had driven hours upon hours in. Axel took a tip of the blanket's edges and mopped at Roxas' brow. The boy made another noise. Of pain? Of disapproval?

Heart thumping, Axel examined him. He didn't know what to do...

He was an expert in murder. In torture. In inflicting the most pain and suffering he could onto a body, until the soul could no longer bear it. But, for once in his life, he wanted to_ save_ a life. To renounce all of his deadly skills for the simple ones that Demyx employed.

Not for the first time that day, Axel felt broken and sickly in comparison with the younger Lycan.

He closed in eyes in self-loathing for a moment. Only a moment. Then, Axel was brushing the boy's hair out of his face. It was limpid and thin. Under the dim light of the forest, it had shone like gold. Now, it was faded to the color of aged straw. Axel swallowed his panic, shamelessly doting on the human. Fluffing his pillows, tucking his blanket more tightly around his prone body. He noticed that when his skin met that of the boy's, Roxas would settle. The frown would leave his mouth and the lines of pain would unwind from his skin.

Axel pursed his lips. Holding his breath, he cupped the boy's face. His fingers reached up into the blonde spikes. The small chin was nearly lost in his palms.

_This feels good. It shouldn't feel good…_

The boy sighed happily, melting into the couch.

Axel exhaled.

He looked tiredly at the sight before him. The human had literally come out of no where. _No where._ He had just popped out of the snow like a wretched flower. A horrible little flower that had moved him to forsake his entire life. _I had been born as a pup in that Pack. I would have __**died**__ for that Pack. Now…_

Now, he found the thought of this human dying meant more to him than anything else ever had.

"I don't even know you…," he whispered to himself.

"He knows you though, hmmm?" Namine chirped from behind him. He flinched, instinct propelling his beast just below the surface of his skin. Axel turned to her. She knelt besides him; she had a cup of yogurt in her hands. It was for the boy. Her grey eyes caught his and held them. Axel looked inside himself.

_And you, Brother? What say you?_

The core voice of all of his decisions was strangely mute. He only felt a soft kind of warm vibrations radiating deep in his heart. Almost a…content kind of humming.

_Damn you. _

Axel stood up and turned away from the two blondes. It frightened him, how erratically his life was spinning out of control and he could do nothing but watch from the side-lines. He walked over to the fridge and glared holes into the dull plastic. He could dimly make out his reflection.

An idea struck him. A delightfully, stupid idea, that made him feel in control again.

He ran a finger-tip down the length of one of his shallow cheeks.

_I wonder….how tattoos would look on me. _

* * *

><p>Hey all! I'm pretty proud of this chappie. It's so fun to have Demyx in the mix now. This story LIVES off of reviews. Give it some love! Peace<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four:** Awake

Roxas opened his eyes on the third day.

Axel had been by the head of the couch, leaning against it as had become his haunt. His fingers toyed with a piece of wood Namine had brought back after her first excursion to the market. Demyx had accompanied her, of course. But he was not worried. The streets outside the complex were always filled with humans and her scent had been carefully doused with perfumes and lotions. The Pack would not find them, yet. Not yet. Plus, the girl loved exploring the city and he could not deny her this.

In the Pack, Namine had been at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Her mother had been an Omega too, and had died birthing the small, pale pup. Naturally, the girl had been born low and raised low. For all her years, she had been required to sit farthest from the fire, even under the heaviest snow fall. Perhaps that was why her skin remained milk white, even in the summer. She was the last to eat and the first to suffer reprimands. She had only just been allowed to accompany Axel on some of his missions. After their fiftieth year, all Lycans learned the tools of the trade. How to cut an artery with only a claw. How to puncture the lungs, snap a neck. But Namine had faired as a mercenary as well as Demyx had.

Axel had not failed to act this time around.

He didn't quite understand it, but the girl had wriggled her way into his heart. It wasn't because she was a female. Namine's mother, then the only woman of the Pack, had held no such importance to him. He hardly even remembered her name. But the girl was different. Her deep gray eyes, like lake water. Her small hands; unfit to wield a blade. Too delicate bear the hard stains of death. It was on their first mission that he decided to shield her from his dark deeds. To protect her as he had not protected Demyx. She always waited in his truck. When he was in meetings with the crime boss of the week, or in some sordid apartment, wrecking havoc- she was safely tucked away in her sanctuary**: ** the passenger's seat with music blotting out the screams.

After every mission, the two drove back to the forest in silence. Axel would deliver the money to Xemnas and, as far as the Alpha was concerned, she had played her part flawlessly in the killing of the human target. The girl's innocence was his secret. Perhaps this is what bound the two of them together. Axel spared her the bloodshed. In return, she was his only friend. The Pack members were not friends. They were **Pack**, a different world entirely. Lexaeus did not know that he liked Rock and Roll music. Saix could care less that he loved hotdogs, dripping with relish and onions. And Zexion, he doubted if the boy even knew his name at all. But Namine knew. She knew it all.

* * *

><p>Axel felt his heart slow a little when he faintly smelled her scent outside the hotel. He listened to her footsteps patiently as she wound down halls, slipping through crowds. Demyx was with her. The two were engaged deeply in a conversation about rainbows. Axel shook his head with a grin. The fair-haired wolves were a perfect pair. In their new lives, Namine could do as she pleased. Within reason, of course. She knew the whole layout of the hotel by heart. She watched a thousand shows at once on the lobby's computer. She even bought herself a new sweater with the money Demyx had forced her to pocket. Axel was pleased to see her happy. Finally happy. And happiness looked damn good on her. Her cheeks had acquired a new glow, like spring peaches. Her lips were left pink from too many smiles.<p>

As for Demyx- the boy was smitten. He wondered how long it would the seventy-year old to finally steal a kiss.

Upon reaching the second hall from the abandoned lounge, the two went their separate ways. Demyx went to work and Namine continued on her path towards him.

He was nearly done shaping the head of his wooden carving, when she walked through the door.

The Lycan's face was rosy and her eyes glinted as if caught in sunlight.

"Ax look! I found onions!" she floated over to him to display her finds. Axel set aside his wood, willed the sharp edges of his nails to fade back to bluntness, and peered inside the paper bag. Namine had not forgotten the needs of their ailing boy. She had selected vegetable soups and oatmeal. Soft things to raise his strength. She had also purchases extra gauze and tape for the boy's bindings.

Then, for them, she had purchased plastic packages of salami, turkey, ham and brisket. His mouth watered at the sight of them. But it could wait. Then, nestled in the corner of the bag, were two onions and a peach. The peach, for her. Very fitting. She had recently discovered an undeniable sweet tooth. Axel smiled and pulled out the onion.

She remembered.

He stood up and looked down at her. She was beaming, still vibrant from her walk through market. All at once, his chest felt warm. A warmth for this girl, who had accepted him and stood by his side. If anything, she was the packmember he had always wanted, deep down in his heart of hearts. She was not simply an accomplice who was forced to care by instinct or order. She was a friend who _wanted_ to care. Axel leaned down to nuzzle the patch of skin underneath her ear. "Thank you, Namine," he whispered. Had she been in wolf form, her tail would have been wagging uncontrollably. The girl giggled and pushed away after a second or two more of affection. "Don't eat em' both today though," she said on her way to the fridge. "I didn't buy any toothpaste, if you get my meaning." She wiggled her pale brows meaningfully and Axel grunted.

It was then that he heard the breathing behind him. It was not the shallow, steady ones of a sleeper.

He turned sharply and found himself trapped in a sapphire stare.

...

The room seemed to grow very large then. He felt miles away from the couch, yet horribly encumbered in the blueness of those eyes.

The paper bag crinkled as Namine fished out the goods.

The spell broke and Axel knelt so that he was once again next to the boy.

"You are awake," he stated lamely.

Roxas blinked and frowned. "Yes…," he replied softly. His brow wrinkled and he looked down at the blanket draped over his body. "Have….have I been asleep long?"

Axel struggled to find the words. He knew the boy was in pain. Not as much as he could have been, thanks to Demyx's ministrations. After stitching up the wounds and administrating the proper medication, the threat of death had come and gone. But the road to recovery was not an easy one. Twice a day, Axel applied a thick, oily salve to the boy's closed gashes. It still angered him to look at them. With every swipe of the medication across a wound, he imagined digging his claws through Xemnas' chest. A fitting revenge, when the day came. He also fed the boy what foods and liquids he could and forced Roxas to use the bathroom. Only half-conscious, Axel basically had to work the youth like a puppet in order to perform the necessary actions. It was all done without a wisp of resentment or shame.

Axel had coolly come to the understanding that the boy's life meant something to him. He was not a wolf who easily failed at a mission. He would do what ever it took to see the boy walking and talking again.

Now Roxas was awake, surfacing from his trauma-induced coma; likely without any knowledge of the burdens he now carried.

Axel put a hand gently over the boy's shoulder. He flinched, feeling the pull of the scab closest to his collar. With eyes like cold coals, Roxas looked at his chest. The blanket still covered it. But, surely the sensations were sharpening with every passing second. The throbbing ache of the three gashes. He could not see them. But he felt them.

Axel smelled the fear churn like a river beneath the breaking confusion.

He spoke quickly. "Do you remember what happened?" he asked, winning the boy's attention. Their faces were close. Axel hoped his gaze looked as intense as he intended. Because, at that moment, he couldn't bare to let the boy drown in the terror that threatened him. _Just focus on me. Just look at me. Nothing else matters_, he besought silently.

The boy stared at him as he would a stranger. His heart beat faster, his brows drew down even more, seeking the block out the bright, green irises before him.

"I…I-," he panted, his arms coming alive under the blanket.

Axel had both his hands on the boy's shoulders now. "Relax. I'm here to help. You came to me- remember? I found you in the snow. And you told me, you wanted to stay with me… Right?"

Blue eyes worked, flicking back in forth like the pendulum of a clock. He looked away, to a spot on the stained carpet. After a minute, his heartbeat slowed. The boy slumped against the couch's arm-rest under his neck and looked back to Axel tiredly.

His skin was grey and damp. But his eyes were as bright as ever, super-heated like cobalt.

"Yes," he murmured. He closed his eyes and let out a ragged breath. His face drew up in pain, inspired from the chest movement. Axel released him and brushed the hair out of the wetness of his forehead. Roxas sighed. A small sigh. After his five minutes of clarity, he had already learned how to keep the pain at bay. Small breaths. Small words. Little to no torso movement as possible.

Axel looked on in admiration. _He is brave. Most humans would panic. Would struggle and tear all their stitches.._

He tucked the covers over the boy, smoothing the wrinkles.

_But not him. Not this human_.

Axel felt a multitude of questions pool in his brain. _Is this why I saved him? Is this what drew me?_ But he ignored all of them.

"I…I apologize."

The boy opened his eyes at the sound of Axel's voice.

Axel frowned, pushing forwards before his pride got the better of him.

"I apologize for what that Lycan did to you. If not for me, you never would have been there. He would not have…hurt you like he did."

Axel bowed his head, staring at his hands. They curled, aching to choke. To punch or throttle. But his victim was far from his reach. Drained, he let them go limp.

"I am sorry," he said heavily.

They stayed that way for a while. Axel, hunched in his place by the boy. Roxas, lying motionless on the couch.

He heard Namine shuffle and remembered her presence. He sat up and looked at her over his shoulder. Her bottom lip was caught in her teeth. Her hands wrung the remnants of the paper bag. "I'll…um…I'll go tell Demyx he's awake," she said. She flashed a look at Axel before fleeing and closing the door behind her.

She was giving them privacy. Axel was grateful. A piece of him was repulsed. He was being too emotional, too caring. Such sentiments were despised in the Pack.

He blinked. But, Namine didn't think that way, did she? He found he liked having the boy to himself, now that he thought of it. The room was more spacious. The tension thinned and ebbed away. Axel let out a deep exhalation. Namine knew him better than he knew himself.

"Don't apologize. You saved me. I would have been a Popsicle if you hadn't stopped." Axel turned wide eyes back to the boy. He watched the ceiling, his cheeks reclaiming some of their lost hues. He shook his head, withdrawing a hand from the covers to run it through sandy hair. Blue irises lit the tips of his eyes. "I got myself into that mess. It wasn't your fault." He turned to face him fully. Axel bizarrely noticed the sprinkling of freckles across Roxas' nose. In another life, the boy probably spent many hours in the sun. Tan skin, hair as blond as Namine's. He wondered distantly if he would ever see Roxas like that...

"So…thanks. Really. Thanks for everything."

Axel nodded mutely.

Officially, he had just completed the longest conversation he had ever had with a human. With anybody outside of Demyx.

_Now what?.._

Axel turned away. He spoke, looking at the wall.

"Are you hungry?"

"Not really."

Silence.

"We have food in the fridge. Soup. You like soup."

"I do?"

"You have for the past two days."

The boy let out a long breath, and regretted it. Axel waited for the boy's pain to abate before finally swiveling around to meet his gaze. The fear was back. The shock. But the boy was in control of it. It did not threaten to overwhelm, as it had before. "I…," he started. The fist resting in his hair clenched, pulling it. "I was out for two days." Axel nodded. The silence that followed was a lighter one. The boy shifted. He was likely tired of lying down. But he didn't dare try to get up. "Where…where are we?" Axel was glad the human was alert enough to begin asking such questions.

"At a hotel, far from the forest. We are here due to the kindness of a friend. Demyx. He is also a Lycan. But, he's not from the Pack."

Axel explained calmly. He felt numb. Apart. And he was glad for it. The boy had crossed a major bridge by waking up and reclaiming his wits. In time, the wounds would heal and the boy would be on his feet. This is the part worried him. For thousands of seconds and minutes, his attention had been spent staring at the boy's sleeping face. Hoping desperately he would heal. Waiting excitedly for him to wake. But…now that it had actually happened, he didn't know where to go next...

Was the boy just a visitor in his life? There to heal, and continue on his way? Axel frowned. He did not want this. The boy could not leave. Not so easily. Not when Axel felt his interest growing every day.

"A…a Lycan. Hmm." Axel looked sharply at the boy, curious. "Are you afraid of Lycans now?" Axel asked darkly. His lungs felt tight. He got to his feet. He walked two steps before the wall came up to meet him. He looked over his shoulder at the small, crippled boy so far beneath him. "I _did _warn you." He was angry. Lycans were dangerous. Especially his Pack, formed solely for the purpose of slaughtering humans for money, cash that they would then use to manipulate other humans and eventually kill them too. It was all just a big power game. What was Roxas, but a tiny fly who'd got caught in the web?

_**I** am dangerous. _

At this thought, he felt his claws lengthen. His blood heat.

_What am I doing, trying to heal this boy?.. I'm wasting my time. _

"You _saved_ me. That's all there is to it. Besides, I…wanted to stay with you. I actually think Lycans are pretty kool."

Axel whirled. "Is that why you were in the woods? Were you _looking_ for Lycans?" His rage was building. Rage because humans were so easily killed and Lycans like him were so good at doing it. Shame was lead on his tongue, but it didn't stop him from talking.

"Because you think we are…kool?" he asked, deadly quiet.

He lifted a hand to let the boy gaze at its recent change. The dark claws had returned, curling unnaturally from his finger tips. He clenched and unclenched his hand, feeling his Brother wolf stir from his slumber.

"Are you going to hurt me?" the boy whispered. His words seemed to echo in the small room.

Axel sobered instantly, his hand reverting back to its human glamour in less than a second.

He looked down at the boy. His rage combusted, swirling into fire. An inferno. Then- it was gone. As if a basin of ice water had been poured over it. All at once, Roxas infuriated him and intrigued him in dizzying amounts. _No. No, I am not going to hurt you. You amaze me. You fascinate me. _

_And I have no idea what to do about that. _

"_No_," he breathed.

Axel sighed and ran a hand through the red shock of hair by the nape of his neck.

When he looked to the boy again, Roxas was smiling.

It made Axel pause, holding his breath without realizing it.

"You saved me. You're healing me. That's pretty kool, if you ask me," he said, his voice regaining the cadence it hadn't had in the snow.

Axel frowned darkly. After a couple of minutes, his lips mutinously turned into a smile that mirrored the boy's.

He shook his head and crossed to the mini-fridge. "You are going to eat now. Namine and Demyx are returning. I will send one of them to go to the microwave in the lobby and heat the soup." He crouched down low to put a grasp the handle. He heard the boy's covers shift as he leaned towards him. "How do you know they're coming?" he asked, voice devoid of fear or weariness. Axel was envious. _His_ certainly contained a good amount of the latter. "I can smell them. And hear their footsteps." Axel grabbed a can and closed the fridge. He stood, once again under the inspection of a crystal blue watch.

"From all the way down there?" he breathed, pupils dilating. The boy was impressed.

He had almost been mauled to death by Xemnas, and he still managed to be 'impressed' with Axel's skills?

The red-head closed his eyes, refusing the grin teasing his mouth. "Yes. I can."

The blond did grin.

"Kool."

* * *

><p>Yay Roxas is awake! It's fun writing his character. You know, reviews will help him heal fasterrr! Don't you guys want that, hmmm? Lol til' next time!<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five:** Miracle

Axel turned the door knob to what had become their new home.

It had been two days since Roxas had regained consciousness. But this fact had done little to change their routine. Axel still kept to the room like a hermit, providing the boy with as much food and water as he required. He medicated the wounds and kept the wrappings clean. Usually, it was up to his Lycan nose to detect when the boy was hungry or thirsty. Roxas hardly spoke. With his waxing awareness, the radiating pain in his skin and muscles also sharpened. It hampered everything. Talking. Especially breathing. Sensibly, the boy favored mute sleep above all things.

Yet, there had been _some_ conversation. Somehow- every now and then. Axel spared the boy as much as he could, refraining from asking questions and discouraging dialogue. But Roxas talked on, none the less. He asked him mostly about his unique biology. The claws. The fangs. The sensitive senses. Axel answered in as clipped responses as possible.

_Still_. Secretly, Axel enjoyed having the boy's attention on him. To feel the human's solid heartbeat, to hear the unique lilt of his voice. Also, conversation gave him a reason to peer into those blue eyes. Only for a moment, in the minute it took him to say "Yes" or the occasional "No". They were such a deep blue.

Deeper than the ocean.

* * *

><p>Axel propped the grocery bag on his hip and ushered Namine and Demyx inside. Once they were all in, he jammed the door into its frame and deposited the bag by the fridge. "I'll wake him," he said to Demyx. The younger Lycan nodded and helped Namine unpack.<p>

It was hard to put it into words….but they had, unknowingly but easily, established a new Pack. Axel was the Alpha. It was not a position the red-head had sought. His last dealings with leadership had been bloody and bitter. But, a leader was necessary in their little menagerie. Someone needed to keep an eye on Namine, less her curiosity lead her into trouble. Demyx was useless in this area. He was her willing shadow in any adventure she decided to take on. So, it was left to Axel to limit her wanderings and issue strict city outings. Somebody needed to care for the boy and schedule time for a medic to see him, when said-medic had free holes in his hotel duties. Again, this fell to Axel.

Axel, consequently, held the most power in their group. He issued the commands and they were eagerly obeyed. But Axel was not Xemnas. He did not control those beneath him with fear and greed. Namine and Demyx were his friends. He protected them. He cared for them. That was the difference between the two. The difference between a wanted leader and a begrudged one.

Gold irises swam in his vision and Axel closed his eyes. His thoughts continued to twist.

The ranks below that of Alpha, however, were all a bit murky. Demyx had invaluable skills and essential connections. This, in any other case, would put him second to Axel. But the wolf was unwilling to put himself above Namine. He often swooped by at nights simply for the delight of telling Namine strange and humiliating stories about the hotel's humans. To which she would snort and giggle to and he would blush in utter delight. He belonged to her, though she had yet to realize it. To Demyx, he and the girl were of equal standing. Namine did not notice. She followed both males blindly.

Then there was Roxas.

Not a Lycan. A human. A liability.

But, Roxas was somehow on par with Namine and Demyx in the Pack, if not a few degrees lower. The Alpha had a select fondness for him, even though Axel was only beginning to admit it. Of this, they all were aware. So it was simple. The human was as tightly interwoven into the Pack's dynamics as any wolf. He was there to stay.

Axel mulled this over with a frown. He had severed all ties with one Pack only to fall into another.

_It is different this time. **Better**. _

An approving growl in his core confirmed this.

Axel knelt next to the boy and gently shook his shoulder.

"Roxas," he said, his voice automatically softening. "Demyx his here to check your wounds."

The boy mumbled something unintelligible, eyes remaining firmly closed. The boy was always reluctant to surface from his dreams. _Then I'll give him a little motivation._ With a learned grace (he couldn't help pick it up after five days of tending to the boy), Axel cupped the face. His thumbs kneaded the soft skin of the boy's temples.

Roxas smiled, as he always did. Light eyelashes fluttered. The eyes opened.

The boy blinked slowly.

"Gah!" He jerked back, wedging himself into the corner of the couch.

Axel sat back on his heels, slightly offended.

It took him a second to piece it together.

"Oh, these," he said loudly. Axel ran fingers over his own face. He had decided to get the tattoos after all. The idea had nibbled at his thoughts for hours. That morning, he had reached a conclusion. A new life deserved a new look. So, while Namine had gone to her shops, Axel has sought out the closest tattoo parlor. It had not been an unpleasant experience. The worst was having some sweaty, strange human lumber over him and sourly saturate his personal space. The artist had stunk of cigarette smoke, dried sweat and the standard stench of refuse and filth. It was a reek that had threatened to make Axel fling the man off his person and never come back. But he had dug his fingers into the foam of the parlor chair and bore it.

His skin had hardly felt the buzz of the needle. It was like the trailing of a feather. In a snap, he was up and his face carried its decorations of two, thin navy triangles that began at the top of each cheek bone and finished just before brushing the line of his jaw. Axel had glanced at the mirror and almost gaped. His visage had remained unchanged for decades. A benefit of his superlative genes. Now, his face was something different. Almost human-like in its sudden transformation. A testimony to his break from tradition. Axel grinned appreciatively at himself, his Joker reflection doing the same with a glint of white fangs.

He had paid the stunned tattoo artist with the last of his cash and stomped out.

Axel remembered the latest additions to his face as the boy stared at him.

"I don't want to risk being noticed by anyone when I go outside. This should be enough," he explained. He looked over at Demyx, spiked Mohawk standing proudly. The Lycan brushed it with a palm and ended with stroking the soft down coating the rest of his scalp. "I got this hair-cut right after the Pack kicked me out. Guess we all want something different after…..-well after that." The medic glanced at Namine. The pink hood of her sweater was over her head. Pale bangs hung across her brow and she munched away on a carrot. "What?" she said defensively. "I don't need to change. I have _this_." With that, she pulled out a jar of translucent jelly. She twisted off the cap and all Lycans in the room shuddered. She dabbed some on her neck. Axel noticed at once the change in her scent. To his trained nose, she was no longer Namine. She was someone else. The goo had successfully warped her scent beyond recognition.

His brows developed deep creases of concern. He moved to his feet and swiftly pulled away the pink hood. The intrinsic smell of her hair wafted up. He took in a deep lungful of it.

_Good._ She was still his Namine.

Axel nodded in obvious respect. "That is amazing. I would never know you with that sweater and concoction on," he said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. She smiled brightly up and slipped her arm around Demyx's waist. "Demy made it for me! For all of us," she chirped. The male grinned down at her and they held each other's eyes for a long moment.

Axel cleared his throat and turned back to the boy.

He had been watching them with unwavering attention. Now, he looked at Axel, all traces of sleep vanished. "So those other Lycans…. They can't find us?" he asked quietly. Axel debated on how much of the truth to tell. He didn't want to worry him. But, he couldn't sugar-coat reality either. Roxas might as well know what they were up against.

"They will never stop searching for us. But, with this invention," he looked again at the Namine's pocket, his blood accelerating. ",-it will make it considerably harder for them. We will be able to hide long enough for you to heal.

"Then, when we are all ready, we will make our stand."

The declaration hung in the air like a flag.

A bright, terrible flag.

It was likely that none had open thought about actually fighting Xemnas and the others. They had only thought about the present. Keeping low, blending in with the humans, buying and scavenging only what they needed to survive. But a battle was always the end result. Kill or be killed. Either Xemnas got what he wanted and destroyed them all, or Axel turned the tables on him.

_I will **not** let him hurt my friends. Never again. _

Demyx shuffled his feet and Namine bit down the last of her snack. Axel turned and nodded to the medic. The warm atmosphere of the tiny room returned. Demyx knelt down beside his patient and withdrew a small pair of scissors from his leather bag. "Will you lift your shirt for me?" he asked. Roxas was used to what followed. Dutifully, he exposed his torso. Demyx spared him a small smile of thanks, before expertly cutting off the layers of gauze. Axel looked to Namine as Demyx surveyed the boy's stitches.

"You okay?" he breathed, moving closer to her. The pink sweater was too big for her. But she liked it that way. Her hands clenched and unclenched in the giant pocket. "I…I guess I hadn't thought about what we would do next. You know, once the hotel manager finds us and kicks us out." She laughed humorlessly. "I like what we have here. I like…," her grey eyes looked at Demyx and she sighed. Namine leaned against Axel's shoulder and he watched her gently. "It feels right. Feels like a home." Her face retreated deeper into her hood. Axel gently tucked some hair behind her ear.

"I know," he offered. He had thought the same thing. But he had never disillusioned himself. Every night he dreamed out the inevitable encounter with the white-haired Lycan. He planned out battle tactics. Where he would meet them, what weapons he would use. There were a thousand possibilities and all were equally bleak.

"Axel, I gotta' say it." Green eyes blinked.

He turned to the medic and found Demyx and Roxas looking at him raptly. Roxas curious and wary, Demyx a little…shocked.

_Shocked? Demyx is never shocked. Have things gone wrong?_

Axel crossed to them both and analyzed the three lines of stitches.

It was then that he understood. The boy's wounds were nearly completely healed. The pale skin was pale and without redness or inflammation. The frayed stitches looked ready to crumble and flake off- to display the whole, unmarred skin and muscle of a healthy chest beneath.

He turned breathlessly to the medic. "This boy is by far the fastest healing human I have ever met," the Lycan said. He shook his head, Mohawk swaying from side to side. "At first, I thought I was just imaging it. Hoping for the best. But, it's only been five days and the lacerations have sealed themselves up. I can probably take out these stitches now and have the boy back on his feet tomorrow."

Axel looked down at the boy, unable to fully process the turn of events.

Roxas was in no better a state. His eyes were transfixed to his own body. He had grown so used to the hollow ache. It had become a constant part of his thoughts and actions. Now, it was gone. As if the pain had only been a nightmare.

He licked his lips and met Axel's guarded gaze. "I…I've always been a quick healer. Guess…guess it's been a while since I got this badly hurt." The boy's head lolled back on a cushion. Blank eyes took in a ceiling painted with dust and cobwebs. Seconds passed, the three wolves focused on the boy and the incredible enigma he had revealed himself to be.

Then, Roxas was grinning. His face with alight with a passion that had only been the slightest specter yesterday. He laughed and his abdomen moved wantonly without cringe or flinch. He looked again at Axel, tears gathering at the tips of his crystal eyes.

"It's over! It's finally over…"

He squeezed his eyes shut, the smile fixed to his lips.

Axel wanted to smile. His own heart was responding to the boy's first display of joy. But he couldn't. He had learned to never trust easy joy. Good things never came free.

He looked to Demyx. The medic was busy undoing his handiwork from days before, cutting threads and picking out the lingering pieces without the boy displaying a single sign of irritation. "Is this….possible, Demyx?" he asked slowly, daring to lean down and run his fingers over the boy's perfect skin. The boy twitched and the medic batted his hand away.

"I can't quite believe it myself, but I must. I know what I'm seeing. This boy is healed."

It took twenty minutes to work all the stitches out.

Axel and Demyx swept eyes again and again over Roxas' chest. The giant gashes they had grown used to tending and softening seemed to have disappeared over night. The boy's pectoral and abdominal muscles were toned and bore no scar tissue or disfigurement. Only a light dusting of indents left by the stitches holes. Even those had healed.

Demyx clapped a hand on Axel's shoulder, cheeks glowing. "Amazing. Truly amazing! Leave it to you to figure out a way to heal this boy behind my back!" Axel smiled vacantly at his friend, incapable of meaning it. He had done nothing out of the ordinary. He had fed the youth, bathed him. Applied ointment. Had that really been enough to achieve such a miracle?..

An icy coldness in his gut was his answer.

_**No. **_

_Something is amiss here._

But he did not voice it. Not even he, the realist, the Alpha, wished to ruin such a happy mood.

Demyx packed his bag and adjusted his black tie. "Well, I'd better get back to work," he said and moved to the door. He gripped it before looking back to the group behind him. "Man. This calls for a celebration." Namine clapped her hands and squealed excitedly. "Oh yes! _Yes_!" They both looked to him. "What do you say, Ax?" the girl asked sweetly, batting her pretty eyes at him. Demyx was raised a brow. "You deserve it, bro," he bid softly, not commanding but entreating.

All eyes were on him. His eyes were only for Roxas. The boy still smiled drunkenly, lost behind his eyelids. Axel bent to cover the boy with the blanket. Only when he was done adjusting it did he stand and answer.

"Very well. Dinner in the lobby tomorrow night." He turned to this packmates, deliberately draining the scowl from his features. "How's that?"

The girl did a little jump and hugged him to the point of pain. He laughed breathily and faced Demyx. The Lycan was smiling at him sagaciously. Axel marveled at the range of depth of the man. Breezy and kind to Namine, warm and empathetic with him. Cold and devotedly serious to all who needed his help.

Axel squeezed his friend's shoulder in thanks and detached Namine's arms from his person. "Namine, help Demyx with his things. I'll clean up here."

When the two blondes were finally out, Axel let himself sigh.

He wanted to join in the jubilation.

But something was holding him back. His instincts. He knew something was off. Humans simply did _**not**_ heal that fast.

Thoughts whirring in his skull, Axel gathered the cut binding from off the ground and threw them in the bin by the fridge. Then he sat down by the couch with a great 'woosh'. He landed with his legs folded under him, his right elbow propped on his right knee. He inhaled a breath as deeply as he could. A myriad of scents funneled into his nostrils. The heavy aroma of dust. The water damage in the roof above, the plastic fibers of the carpet, the distinct crispness of vegetables and meat and preservatives in the chemical box. Under all of that, were the scents he knew almost as well as his own. The smell of the boy's blood. The metallic, warmness. The lively tissue of his organs, the steady swell of his lungs.

Everything appeared normal.

Then, the shallowest layer of this spectrum of smells, was his own Lycan-ness. It penetrated everything, for he had paced up and down every inch of the room.

Axel sighed and muted his nose. Too many scents. His head had started spinning.

The Alpha cradled his head in his hand, hunched over his own knee.

"You're tired?"

Axel snapped to attention. He looked to meet Roxas' blue watch. The boy was talking freely again. He only seemed to talk when he was alone with Axel. He repressed a shiver and kneaded the bridge of his nose.

"Yes. And…surprised."

The boy let out a chuckle and stretched his arms. The bones popped and the boy sighed approvingly. "I'm just special. That's me." Axel gave him a sardonic glare and Roxas laughed again. "Fine. Don't appreciate my skills. I still do." The boy gave his sandy hair a fierce shake and settled his hands behind his head.

"Axel?"

Green met blue.

"You know what I'm going to loooovvveeee when I finally get my ass off this couch?"

"What?"

"Oh come on. Guess."

"Me. Because I'm the one got you this far."

Axel regretted saying the words the minute they left his mouth. The boy stared at him mutely, eyes wider than they had ever been. Why had he said it? It's not like he was searching for rewards for his days of nurture. No. The boy's simple words and kind company had been enough. The boy was alive and it was because of _him_ and that had satisfied a deep-seated itch long ago. His instincts had been satiated. Hadn't they? He had thought everything had worked itself out.

_Apparently, I want more than I thought. _

"I was going to say, I'm really going to love a shower…" the boy started. Axel wasn't looking at him. He was back to covering his eyes with his fingers.

"But, you deserve some love. So...I guess I'll give you a little too."

Axel stiffened as if struck.

_Love?... _He swallowed thickly; unnerved by the reaction he was having the boy's words. _Surely he means the word in the loosest possible sense. That is how human "teens" talk these days. It's all colloquial…_

_Yes. _

"The shower's getting most of it though. Ohmygod I feel so dirty. Ugh!" The boy rubbed mercilessly at his face.

"I apologize. I haven't bathed you in a while."

They both went stone still at this.

Axel got to his feet. _Enough of this._

Assuming command of the situation, the Alpha gathered his red spikes of hair to his nape and tied it off with a band. Then, he shrugged into a black coat and pulled the hood tightly to his skull. "I'm going out. You can shower in privacy."

He wanted to march off with that, but he couldn't help giving the boy one look.

Their relationship had been thrown completely off kilter. He could tell. Silently, within the span of a second.

Axel had taken as many liberties as he wanted when caring for the human. After all, every thing he did, every piece of every action, was solely for the boy's benefit. But, that had been when the boy was unconscious and Axel was unfazed by boundaries or human norms. He was simply doing what necessary. Scrubbing Roxas's body down with washcloths, chastely changing his sweatpants and T-shirts into a different, but still dismally grey and cheap pair of sweatpants and T-shirts. Combing his hair, applying the proper medical attentions. All of this was called for and had not been reprimanded. Not by Namine, who left the boy in Axel's complete care. And certainly not by the boy, who had only had half his wits.

But now, the boy was conscious and apparently completely healthy.

In retrospect, had he crossed a line?

Did Roxas _think _he had crossed a line?

_Does he really….love me? _

Axel grimaced, unable to make out the expression in the infinitesimal depths of the boy's ocean irises.

_Lycans do **not** love. Humans do no love Lycans. Love only means 'like' in today's language anyway. The boy merely appreciates my service, at most. Perhaps. Nothing more. _

_Why the heck to I even _care_?!_

Axel stormed out of the room. He didn't know where he was going, but he didn't care.

He hated questioning himself. And it seemed, the more the boy seemed to reclaim his lost self, the more Axel wondered if he was doing _anything _right at all.

He tore down the stairs with his new tattoos feeling like fire on his skin.

* * *

><p>Oh Axel….. Humans are super confusing. You'll get used to it. You guys like this so far? Plz let me know! =D Cuz I'm loving writing this<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Dinner**

Axel walked up the stairs with a calm and steady gait. His footfalls were not heavier than normal. Should any stray passerby see him and were not too shocked by the unusual height, the flash of hair, the handsome face made sharper, darker by the tattoos- they would see a blank expression that belied only an empty mind.

As it should be. Axel had reached several conclusions. **One:** he would not reverse a single of his actions concerning the boy. Human modesty simply could _not_ have been taken into account under the circumstances. It was only through raw instinct and surety of self that Axel was able to heal the boy as well as he did. **Two: **He really didn't care if the boy was grateful or not. Or if he was offended or violated. Whatever the present emotions were in the boy's heart, he was healed. He had been snatched from the clutches of death and Axel was successful. Mission accomplished. Done. Sentimentalities were trivial and completely _not_ worth the hours of pacing and teeth grinding that he didn't quite care to acknowledge at the moment.

_When I walk through that door, he will be nothing to me. I've done what my instincts wanted. Now, I will move on. _

Axel paused. For only a second. His heart was still even when his legs continued their ascent.

...

Was that_ really_ true?

If Roxas was gone, having slipped away and back into humanity never to be seen again, would he be so unaffected? Would the blue eyes stop haunting his dreams? Would the smile and laugh that made his heart pinch be erased too?

Axel sighed. A shamefully deep sigh that had his shoulders sagging.

_**You want him to stay. Admit it. **_

The red-head flowed down the hall with a practiced grace. Inside, his gut tumbled into knots.

_Now, now?! Now you choose to speak? Wretched dog!_ he spat at the spirit inside of him; the sinewy, lupine beast that had risen from the shadows of his chest.

_**Don't give me that. You need my advice. You've never spurned it before. **_

Now the footsteps thumped on the ground. The long fingers clenched, the mask cracked.

_No. I….I…_

_**You don't want to be weak. **_

_Yes._

_**The boy is in your heart. You are already weak. **_

Axel stopped dead in his tracks. A bead of sweat trickled down his brow, into wide eyes.

_I cannot be weak. Not now. _

_**All wolves have weaknesses**__. _The black-gummed maw grinned, white teeth tearing at the dark. _**Strong wolves make sure their weaknesses are checked. Always checked. Never abandoned for all to see. **_

"I… I don't understand." Axel stood in front of the lounge door. The golden letters that had once adorned its surface had long since pealed away. Only dull remnants of brown glue remained. The Lycan was consumed with the conversation in his own mind. A singular ability was at play, one that no human would ever possess.

_Are you saying to keep Roxas with me? To continue to protect him from harm?_

His inner-wolf was silent.

Axel scowled in rage, a bubbling fury leaking into his muscles, screaming for action.

But he didn't tear the ugly door off its hinges. He didn't shred the wood into splinters with his fangs and claws and wallow in the destruction.

He let out a long breath. He wiped the sweat from his temples, adjusted his sweater, turned the knob and walked into their secret home.

* * *

><p>The three of them were waiting for him. He closed the door and faced a monopoly of blue eyes. Two having the oh-so-slightly thinned pupils of Lycan design. The other being all round and deep like ink-dyed puddles.<p>

Demyx was out of his standard uniform. Instead, he wore a black collared shirt and black slacks that brought attention to his lean frame. Namine was in a white dress and white sweater, a stark contrast to the male standing unconsciously close to her. Roxas still had on a green sweater and jeans. He had been suffering them for days, but had never asked for otherwise. His usually chaotic hair had been wetted and looked sleek. Nearly tame.

"So, I suppose you're all ready but me," Axel pointed out, winning ruffled stares.

"We agreed to meet thirty minutes ago Ax," his packmate sighed, fingers running through her pale locks nervously.

Demyx tried not to show irritation. His hands were kept casually in his pockets. But, Axel still smelled it. Slight annoyance. It was only for their friendship that he remained silent.

Axel rolled his eyes. He let his hair out of its binding, the crimson spikes springing out to halo his face like a mane. He combed it and gave himself a sniff. The scent was not unpleasing. A smell of pine needles and fur. He smiled, pleased.

"Well, I'm ready. Let's go."

The mood instantly lightened.

Axel repressed a grin. They had all been looking forwards to the night, eager to experience a meal fancier than plastic-sealed and canned food they had become accustomed to.

He swallowed and looked to the boy.

Roxas was still on the couch. He was sitting up. His legs hung over the edge, suggesting that he might (finally) rise up and stand. His hands were on his knees, his face down-turned. Now he looked up as if feeling Axel's attention.

The blue irises swirled. Not with anger. Or pain. The Alpha was relieved.

There was, however, not happiness. Not any recognizable form of pleasure.

That was bad. The stress quickly returned.

He walked to the boy's side like a robot, sensing a wound he needed to tend to. Axel was at loss for words when he realized the wound was not on the skin. It was on the inside. The boy looked at him expectantly, unaware of his sudden turmoil.

"Erm….can you walk?" he asked gruffly.

In response, Roxas jerked to his feet. Axel's put a steadying hand on the small elbow, providing support or safety were it needed. It felt natural until the boy looked at the fingers. They were close now. Axel could smell the boy's breaths; feel the tightly interwoven threads of the jacket. _I'm just helping him. That's allowed._ Blue eyes studied him like spotlights. He stepped back hastily.

"Good. Good." He chanced a look over to his packmates. They too, seemed incapable of taking their eyes off him. Demyx was amused. Namine had her head tilted, something silvery and quixotic happening in her gaze.

"What?" he grunted.

Namine giggled and Axel walked over to them. _This human is making me mad,_ he communicated, using his eyes alone. When in wolf form, even eye signals were not necessary to convey messages amongst the Pack. Thoughts were enough.

The Lycans leaned in, forming a tiny circle of heads. _Ax, you need to loosen up. Be happy for Roxas. He's healed!_ Namine's cheeks were radiantly peachy as usual. Axel frowned at her. _I __**am**__ happy!_ Demyx snorted and won the piercing green scowl.

_Hey!_ The medic leaned back, putting his hands out. _I didn't say anything. But, you are a little tense man. You hungry? Cause' I'm starving._ Demyx mimed extreme fatigue, clutching at his stomach helpfully.

Axel shook at his head, spikes swaying.

"So-o!" Namine chirped. All attention swiveled to her. "Let's get going!" Then, she whipped the small jar out of her pocket. Opened it and applied the scent-blocking jelly to her own neck and then to Demyx's. Then, she balanced on her tiptoes and smeared it across Axel's nape. She stood, supported on his chest, for a minute a two before she was done.

Roxas cleared his throat noisily and the two stepped apart. "Yeah, let's go," he muttered, walking past them. Axel looked at Namine in askance. She shrugged, smiled nymphishly and grabbed Demyx's hand. They followed the boy out of the door.

The Alpha stood there. Alone.

_This dinner….will be a long one. _

He let out a martyred breath and trailed after his Pack.

* * *

><p>The Hotel's restaurant was a nice one. Most that he had been in were seedy buildings with unkempt floors, stained tables and even dirtier waitresses. But, that was a time when he was in a seedy business. One did not conduct talk of murder and genocide over silk napkins and wineglasses. At least, the Pack didn't.<p>

The four of them were led to a table by an amiable man in a gleaming suit. Soft chatter hummed around them and the smell of spicy food was like perfume in the air. Axel was not lulled. His ears were pricked, his nose on full alert. Should any one of the shadowy faces make a move of action, violence or ill intent- his claws would be out faster than a blink. Faster than any other claws.

They sat down on the cushioned chairs. Somehow, Axel found himself sitting next to the boy, though he had initially planned to distance himself. Not for his sake. His comfort had already been rigidly demanded by his own discipline. But the boy's….who knew what stormed in that head of his.

On the other side of the circular table, Namine and Demyx leaned easily against each other. Axel glared enviously at them. He didn't know if the two had openly confessed their affection for each other. But, usually, such things didn't need to be said. They were felt. Her smile was always there when the male looked at her. Demyx's face melted like candle wax when ever she turned those silver eyes his way.

_At least _their_ enjoying themselves..._

He picked at a napkin. He had never been a social person. He'd never needed to be. Now, sitting in a thoroughly human environment where smiles and courtesy were the norm, he felt completely out of place. Again, he cursed the cage his Pack had raised him in. In the Pack, manners and charm were such ridiculous notions they were more of myths than anything. When dinner had been freshly killed, the top members gorged themselves on the venison innards. Then, what was left was made available and he and Namine would eat their fill. If someone stepped out of line, a low growl or bite to the jugular was enough to make sure it never happened again. Should Alpha or his Second want something, more space, the best rock, so on and so forth, they would be given it at all costs. Without a single noise of protest. It was simply _done._

Axel closed his eyes and saw his past, as clear as his reflection in the mirror.

_Himself, a red wolf sitting on the edges of their forest clearing. Black and tawny wolves clustered together in the snow behind him. Lycans naturally favored their lupine forms. When the day's work was done and the sanctuary of trees was around them, all let down the glamours and were their true selves. _

_A pale wolf was lying in a small ball at his side. Namine. She was too low of rank to be with the Pack as they huddled for warmth. As his charge, she was to stay with him as he took watch. Ice under his paws. The rich smell of pine trees in his snout, the frigid wind in his sensitive ears. The forest was home. Right. He felt at peace there, even when forsaking sleep to perform one of the endless tasks his Alpha had assigned him. _

_The red wolf closed his eyes, inching closer to the white ball to provide her with a little more of his warmth. _

Axel opened his eyes.

"Did you hear me?"

Axel blinked and looked down at the boy. Roxas had a brow slightly raised.

"What was that?"

"I said, you seem a bit out of it," Roxas said, voice surprisingly patient.

Axel rubbed his face, habitually feeling his tattoos. "Sorry. I…I just need to eat."

The boy nodded noncommittally and looked down at the black table cloth.

After a continued silence, Namine broke the ice.

"So Roxas, tell us about yourself. Now that we're all whole and healthy." She smiled brightly, using a face that was impossible to refuse.

Axel watched the boy from the tips of his eyes. The boy smiled. A grateful smile that had him wishing that _he_ had been the one to ask the question.

"Well….I guess I should explain what I was doing in the snow… I mean, I do owe you guys. A lot." He turned to each of them individually. First Demyx. "Sir… I don't…. I can't even begin to thank you eno-," Roxas began, his fists coming up to clench on the table's surface. The medic smiled softly and waved a hand. "Please, Roxas. You can call me Demyx. And, it was my pleasure and obligation to see you to your best. You're very welcome." Axel sat in quiet awe of the other Lycan's skill with words. His genuine calm and kindness. He didn't understand where it came from._ Is it because he has been so long in human form?.. _No. It went deeper than that. Compassion was just in the man's blood.

The boy looked to Namine, blushing slightly. "And your food… Namine. You even bought those cookies I liked. Cleaned my blankets. You really…you really made me feel…-," again he was stopped. All three wolves could sense the emotions stirring beneath the surface. The guilt he felt, for having the three tend to him like his personal staff of maids. The shame, the gratefulness. Axel's nostrils stung with the vortex of it all. Remorse was in his own heart like acid. How could he have, for a second, have doubted the boy's gratitude?

"It's okay Roxas. I understand. Believe me, I loved going to market," she beamed, then let out a tinkling laugh. "Otherwise, I would never have found these earrings!" The girl tucked some hair behind an ear to expose a golden star hanging on the thinnest of chains. Demyx made soft murmurs of appreciation and Namine responded with rosy smiles.

Finally, like the lowering of a red curtain, Roxas swung his head in Axel's direction.

"Soo… If it weren't for you, Axel, well…. Well I'd be dead."

Axel watched him stonily. The need to touch him, to soothe his discomfort by physical contact was instinctual. Like a force moving in his muscles, against his will. But he no longer knew what to do with his touch. So Axel promptly pinned his hands to his knees and looked into the blue eyes that always seemed to see much too much.

"My life is yours." The irises flashed like light on the sea. A second. Then, as if blinking away a dream, Roxas turned to the other two. "It's all of yours. Really….thank you."

A saturated hush fell over the table.

The talk of other people filtered in as if from far away. They stared into eachother's faces with a new level of respect. Of….of something felt in the chest. Deep in the marrow.

_Pack. Yes, we are Pack. _

Axel shook his head, angered that he could not forget the past.

"Why _were _you in the snow?" The sharp sound of his own voice broke the moment.

Namine blinked and Demyx looked at the ceiling.

Roxas noticeably swallowed and returned his hands to his lap.

Axel leaned in, to do something, when the waiter came.

"Hello again, folks. Can I get you some beverages?"

Axel clenched his jaw. When he turned to the human, the man's smile faltered. "E-excuse me I thought you were ready. I'll…erm…" Before the man could flee like a frightened mouse, Demyx turned his charm to full brightness and commanded attention. "Yes, please. I _would_ like to order a drink. Do you have any Root Beer?" The waiter sagged in relief and stretched back into his skin. "Of course, of course. And for the lady?"

Namine occupied the waiter's watch for a good ten minutes, hearing all the choices and debating over three kinds of berry lemonades before finally going with Strawberry.

The waiter looked cautiously to Roxas, careful to keep the red-head out of his line of sight.

"Just water, thanks."

Axel grunted. "Give me a water too."

The waiter nodded, cast a few nervous smiles and scuttled away as fast as possible.

The table let out a collective breath. "Axel….," Namine said warningly.

"Yes. I know. I will do better."_ I know I need to treat humans like fragile pieces of glass that can't take a single word said in anger or they'll shatter. Forgive me for letting that __**slip**__ my mind_, he said with his pursed lips.

Namine shook her head. She had been trying to subtly tutor Axel in proper-human-handling for weeks. Even before Roxas had crashed into their lives. The female was always kind. Again, it was a thing of her DNA. It was fitting that Namine and Demyx had found each other, since they were both anomalies. The only Lycans he had ever known to exhibit such unfailing benevolence. Both were kind to other animals. To trees. Even humanity.

Axel had worshiped trees and nature. Tolerated other animals (for they were all just potential meals, in the long run) and had only_ just_ put up with humans on account of his necessary links to mob bosses and crime lords.

Sadly, it seemed, for all her good intentions, Roxas would forever be the only human he was possible of being polite to.

Said human was trying to hide a grin. He chewed his bottom lip but was unsuccessful and broke out into a full smile.

Axel's irk was forgotten and his interest piqued.

He watched Roxas until the boy turned to him. He chuckled. "Its just…I can defiantly see that you're part wolf. Definitely."

The whole table laughed and Axel was taken by surprise.

Laughter.

They were all laughing.

He watched the boy intensely. It suddenly clicked.

_This boy.._

If he hadn't been wandering out in that blizzard and blasted into his senses, Axel would never have left the Pack. He would never have reunited with Demyx, a man he had always nursed a dark guilt over. Namine would forever have lived a life under appreciated and unloved and she would never have talked to Demyx long enough to discover a kindred spirit.

Without Roxas, they would never have been sitting together, _there_, **laughing**. Happy. Unburdened and seriously needed happiness.

_Wow…_

Axel reached out a hand and took Roxas' chin between his fingers.

The boy flinched, his eyes going very wide.

"Thank you. Thank _you_, Roxas."

The boy's warmth bled into his fingers and he closed his eyes, savoring it.

He held the moment to him for a minute.

Then, he removed his hand looked at the couple across form him.

Demyx's face was carefully neutral. Namine was a Cheshire cat, grinning from ear to ear.

Roxas coughed out a laugh, ears tinged red.

"Yeah! So…. So yeah. I was….um… I was out there looking for my grandfather. Ventus? Yeah… It's kinda' a long story. I'm not sure I can finish it before the drinks get here. If the waiter ever comes back, that is…." The boy rubbed his neck and was over it. Whatever it had been. He smiled, looking at his audience expectantly.

He didn't know, however- but how could he know? His senses were so dull- that the three Lycans around him had gone suddenly, deathly still.

Ventus. It was a name they all recognized.

It was the name of their Pack's Alpha before Xemnas had replaced him. Ventus, a noble leader that all had loved and followed faithfully. That was, until he had been tragically killed during the Migration.

Axel tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry.

_Roxas….related to a Lycan? **The** Lycan?... It can't be…_

_It _can't _be.._

The boy looked from the harshly blank faces and frowned.

"What?..."

* * *

><p>Wow, kinda' a twist there huh? Lol it will make sense soon.<p>

OH-KAY FIRST!- I wrote this all in one sitting so I could post it today in thanks to all my awesome Reviewers! THANKYOUUUU! Trust me, every word you guys write me makes my heart go sqquueezzee with happiness! XD Thanks guys, I mean it. Until next time!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Blood**

Demyx, always the medic with the quick mind and quicker tongue, came to first.

He cleared his throat and spoke. "O-oh. Your…your grandfather. Were you two close?"

Roxas was silent. His eyes went to Namine. The second before he saw her, she blinked and wiped her face of surprise. The boy met only an attentive girl. Her grey eyes were focused though her smile seemed slightly off-kilter.

Roxas swallowed, doubting himself. It seemed, just a moment ago, that the trio around him had reacted vehemently to his earlier statement. But that was impossible. The two in front of him were as natural as ever, sitting languidly and looking politely interested in his story. The boy shrugged and answered, omitting Axel from inspection without noticing.

His past rushed back like an ocean tide. 

"Well…I've actually never met him. My mom and I weren't really close to my father's side of the family. See….I've never known my father either." Cerulean eyes darkened to the color of beryl. They flicked to the two Lycnas. Demyx had his chin propped on his interwoven fingers, listening. Roxas still hesitated. The words on his tongue were dusty things that had rarely been exposed to air.

He sighed. "It's kinda' a long story.." He rubbed his neck, pushing the beads of perspiration up into the tawny hair by his nape. The blonde girl leaned forwards with a smile. "We have time." Something passed over her face. The palest of shadows. Then, her custom luminosity was back and a sparkling smile was being flashed his way. "I'm sure we've all been pretty curious about you for a while now." She giggled and the boy only felt his mouth tighten. He_ did_ owe them answers. He owed them everything.

Roxas smiled blandly, trying to drain the darkness pooling in his thoughts.

"Well, here it goes. My father pretty much knocked my mom up and left. Mom said he had a lot of issues. Something about…not fitting in with the town. It actually was a lame place. The people aren't too nice. The weather's always grey…. But yeah. My dad might have cared for me when I was little... I _do_ seem to remember his face. A smile. But, I've forgotten everything else. He left and that was that."

Namine frowned sympathetically. Demyx held himself blankly rigid. The boy considered looking to his side at Axel, but something held him back. He had a feeling he would get more feed back from the two in front. A frosty chillness was radiating from the red-head at his side. Best to just keep talking.

"So, it's pretty just been my mom and me. Not to spiral into some pity-party but, I've never really fit in. Not so good at school. The kids at school well….we didn't get along either." Roxas smiled humorlessly. Past scenes of fights in the cafeteria and blood on his lips flitted across his vision.

"Why didn't you move?" Demyx mused. The boy looked up from the hole he was burning into the table cloth. "Not enough money. Plus…I think my mom always had this crazy idea that dad was gonna' come back and we would all be a family again blah blah. She couldn't move. Cuz' then: 'what if he came back and we weren't there?'" Roxas replayed the maxim his mother had spoon fed him for years.

The boy scowled, remembering his irritation with the woman. She may have been his only parent, but she was too busy living in the past to be apart of his present. One more reason why he hated that town. The school, the people, the family. All of it just generally sucked.

"Mom forced me to go to the tiny little college there. It was next to our house so I really didn't have an excuse not too. After a year, I couldn't take it anymore."

The two Lycans gave each other looks. He wondered if they were judging him.

When Demyx looked his way, the words were a surprise. "That's good. Once a place becomes more trouble than it's worth, it's best just to leave and start over."

Roxas watched distantly as the girl rubbed the medic's arm. Her face looked sad for some reason. The man smiled tightly into her pink face.

He tried to act like their little 'moment' didn't happen. He didn't really know what to make of it.

"Right…. Right. Well, the rest is history I guess. I needed a new place to stay. A new home, city, everything. So I packed my things and headed out for the only relative I knew of. My grandfather" Roxas took in a deep breath and grinned sardonically. "Sure, I never met him once in my life. But back then, knowing nothing about him was a blessing. He wasn't cruel or stupid or…or anything like the people I knew. He was anything I wanted. He was a fresh start." Roxas frowned, rubbing his warm brow. The past was a fire inside his skull. To quench the heat, he let more words spill from his lips. "I-I took a shortcut through the forest. My mom had told me he lived right on the other side. So I packed my things and headed in. The cold hadn't been much of a problem. I'd been making progress until… Until the blizzard hit… I don't remember much. The wind tore my pack off. Who knows where it is now." He was cold now. Cold as he remembered snow tearing at his skin, clotting in his eyes until the whole world was a frozen grey. "I tried to take shelter by some trees but the snow….-it was pretty much everywhere." The boy blew a long gust of wind out of his lungs. He swallowed the ice concealing in his throat. Was it shame? Or just flat out embarrassment from what was coming next?

"Next thing I remember is….you guys saving me. Axel's face. Then being somewhere warm."

Roxas finally dared a look to his left. What did the green eyes think of him _now_?

OooOOooo

Axel felt Roxas' gaze. But he refused to meet it.

His brain was whirring like a thousand gears. The absentee dad. The unknown grandfather that allegedly lived by the forest.

Against all the odds, the boy could very well _be_ the grandson of Ventus.

It was all so unlikely.

Seventy years ago, Axel had been a fledgling Lycan. Born to two unremarkable Lycans, he had only just been coming into his powers. Powers of intelligent thought. Of having _dreams_ of being human. After twenty years of spending all of his time as a wolf pup, it was a disturbing experience to say the least. One night after a meal of rabbit and cleaning his snout and claws from gore, he had drifted into a distinctly canine sleep. Of running. Chasing. Then the dreamed changed.

His copper fur was gone. He was naked in the snow, with squat fleshy limbs and clawless fingers. When he crawled to a lake to see his reflection, the face of a mortal boy glared up at him in horror.

He'd woken up with a howl. From then on, his thoughts were different. He reasoned. He analyzed and pondered. He took delight in the beauty of snowflakes, in the idleness of contemplating his next hunt. It was then that his Alpha singled him out. Ventus. The large wolf had explained it all, as he did to all the pups. Explained the metamorphosis. Explained how it was a natural part of Lycan life and how he would soon come into his first transformation. Axel was shocked. He surely would have rejected the whole concept if Ventus hadn't changed there, right before his eyes into a full human. A lithe man with a mop of blonde hair and the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen.

Axel kneaded his scalp, feeling a knife through his insides.

It was the year after that, that they were discovered.

A hunter had come in on their clearing one frosty day, right as a couple were putting on their glamours of humanity. He'd screamed and stumbled away. Of course they could have killed him. Axel, even as a youth, could have chased him down and cut his jugular. But murder was not the Pack's way. Not then. Ventus decided to move. The Migration. They would travel thousands of miles, across a mountain range, into a different forest. A different home.

It was across those mountains that Ventus lost his life. Humans would have used cars and busses to cover such a distance. But Lycans were wolves first and humans second. The only option, in their minds, was to travel by foot. By paw. It had happened as they crossed the last of the peaks. A fatigued wolf had slipped on an icy ridge of rocks. Had it been Zexion? Perhaps Larxene?... He didn't remember. He_ did_ remember his Alpha grabbing the wolf by the scruff of his neck and hauling him on to stable rock. At the cost of losing his own footing. The great wolf had scrabbled for friction, for a foot-hold. But it was for naught. He tumbled down the side of a cliff with his whole Pack looking on helplessly.

They'd found his body on the second of traveling. Progress was slow across the slippery rocks. They buried him, a human custom that had been integrated into their lives. Then, the wolf that had helped dig the grave came forward. He was the strongest. Ventus himself had prized the Lycan's bravery. Ventus had not known, conversely, that the wolf's bravery stemmed from a dark place. A lust for danger and bloodshed. Xenmas. He stepped up and took the title of Alpha for himself. The Pack of shivering, mourning wolves had not challenged him. Strength, even cruel strength, is always followed with light is dim and hearts are cold.

So it was thus that Xemnas became their leader and led them to the forest that was currently their den. It was Xemnas that started the crime, the murder of humans for money. Money was power. Power kept them hidden, kept all the humans _out._

Axel frowned, eyes on his hands. He hadn't known much of Ventus. He'd followed him blindly. Loved him. It was_ he_ who had guided him through the metamorphosis. But, the Lycan could very well have met a human sometime before his death. Axel knew the Alpha had made regular trips into town for things like medicine and blankets.

_He must have been meeting up with his lover, too. _

Ventus could easily have sired a half breed. This half-breed could have lived to experience his first transformation (if Halflings even _transformed_, that was) and become a part of the town. In secret. The mother would have protected him. She loved a Lycan. She would love her son too.

Lycans aged slower than humans. But, the more human they had in them, the faster they aged. Ventus' Halfling child would have been an adult in only fifty years. According to Roxas, the man would then impregnate a human mate. Then, he would leave her. Roxas had said his father hadn't fit in well with the town. With humanity. Even a Halfing would have felt the wolf in him call to the forest. After his return to the forest, his child would be born. A child with a forth of Lycan blood in its veins and the rest human. Twenty years later, that child would run away from home and get lost in the snow.

The sound of glass clinking.

Axel looked up and found the waiter had returned. He smiled at the table, avoiding the green glare, and delivered the drinks. "One Root Beer, Strawberry lemonade and two waters. Have you folks decided on your meal yet?"

Demyx let out a loud sigh of release. "Oh _yes_," he breathed, looking at the waiter adoringly. The man smiled shakily and brought out his notepad. "Y-yes?" he stuttered, surely wondering if Demyx intended on eating _him_. "I'd like the PrimeRib steak, please. Bloody." The waiter swallowed thickly and jotted it down. He turned to Namine. "Same." Then, the head swiveled grudgingly to Axel.

The red-head smiled, letting show his sharp canines. "Same."

The well-dressed blinked. His hands twittered over the paper like shaking feathers and the eyes looked blindly to the boy. The salty fear filled Axel's nose and the red-head hid a grin.

"Same."

That made the grin disappear instantly. Axel flashed Roxas stunned look. The boy grinned abashedly. "I guess I've worked up and appetite from eating nothing but yogurt and soup for so long." He scratched his cheeks, the skin flaming pink there.

_There it is. First the rapid healing. Now, the hunger... _

A cold panic writhed in his heart and he moved close to the boy. He took in a strong sniff, tossing discreetness out the window. He closed his eyes. The scent jelly was doing its job well. The most Axel could smell was the faintest whiffs of Roxas' true scent.

But the intrinsic smell was still that of a human.

He exhaled loudly and opened his eyes. Roxas was blushing even more deeply. Axel realized his nose was practically pressed against the boy's throat.

Axel rolled his eyes and moved back into his chair.

Demyx and Namine had their mouths slightly agape.

"It's true," the red-head muttered. He ran a hand through his hair and took a sip of his water. The three still stared at him. Axel puffed out a sigh, refusing to be frustrated.

"I meant _it's true_ that the boy is hungry. His stomach is empty and his nutrient levels are abnormally low." Demyx quirked a brow and nursed his drink. Namine still had her silver eyes on him.

_Do you believe his story?_ he asked her, keeping his face neutral.

_I do._ She smiled, twirling a stream of her flaxen hair.

Axel clenched his jaw. Surely, the other two Lycans had reached the conclusion he had only seconds ago.

_And now everything's changed. **Again.** _

"You could tell all that just by smelling me?" Roxas said softly. Axel blinked a couple times before smiling.

_Or….or not. _

"I told you, we have very powerful noses," he replied, tapping the bridge of said-tool. The boy grinned a little himself. But the shadows of his story still hung in his eyes. Axel sobered. No. It would not have been easy to grow up without a father. Without Pack. Surrounded always by humans, unaware of the sliver of wolf burning in the heart.

The Alpha still didn't want to believe it. He was grasping at straws, weaving an elaborate story out of nothing. Right?

"Your grandfather…has quite the interesting name," Axel said. The boy nodded, eyes glassily watching the water in the fluted glass. "Yeah. So did my father. Sora. I've never heard them anywhere else." Axel was relieved that he didn't recognize the name. He nodded.

_Now, I ask him if he's going to stay with us. If he's still intent on finding his long-dead relative. I ask him if he's ever dreamed about being a…_

"Actually, all of your names are kinda' weird," the boy said. The trio of Lycans looked at him amusedly. "I mean…Axel?" Green eyes narrowed. "That's the name of a thing on my bike." Roxas laughed at the look this earned him and moved to Demyx. "And Demyx. Wow. I don't even know how to spell that..." The medic shrugged, taking another long drought of his drink. Namine leaned forwards eagerly, pink lips pouting like rose petals.

"And me?"

The boy pretended to think. His scratched his scalp and pursed his lips.

"Hmm Namine. Namine… That is a unique name."

The girl's face fell and she melted onto the table's surface.

Roxas chuckled. "A name unique to especially beautiful girls."

Axel coughed and Demyx spit into his cup.

Namine sat up and was radiant. "Yes! Yes, I agree with that," she said musically.

_Careful boy. You have an extremely protective male sitting across from you._

"And your name is so mundane, is it?" Axel drawled, sitting back and crossing his arms.

The boy's eyes went dark again. "No. I mean, Dad named me. One weirdly-named guy gave me _my_ name so... That make's it a bit odd, too."

Axel looked at the boy. He had wondered for many hours what his story had been. He had sat there for nights. Nights when the boy had still been 'only' human. When his skin was sallow and his blood was slow. When his chest would rise raggedly with every breath. Then, it would fall and the boy's eyes would clench. The lacerations would stretch when he breathed, as he was unable to control them in sleep. Axel would run his fingers through the blonde locks soothingly. The boy would sigh and let the pain go.

The texture of the soft hair came back to him, and he clenched his fingers. They were all silent for a time. Roxas just stared at his beverage while the girl next to him slurped hers noisily.

"Well, I guess you fit in here, kid. With all these weird names. Personally, I think Namine has the weirdest one," Axel said after a time.

The girl gasped and gave him and affronted look. "Hey!" Never one to pass up talking about the object of his affection, Demyx leaned into her to play with a strand of hair by her ear. "I agree with you, Ax. Far too many N's in that name. Isn't just one enough?" Axel nodded understandably and the girl continued to glower.

"Oh yeah? Least there's not a Y in it. _Y_ is the weirdest letter of the entire alphabet," she huffed and flashed the medic a triumphant smirk. Little did she know, her attention only made him happier. He smiled and blew softly on her nose.

Axel and Roxas looked away from the couple's antics.

Their eyes inevitably met.

"I'm glad you found me," the boy whispered softly.

"Of course. You would have died if some one hadn't come along." All animals had instincts. Even humans, Axel supposed. And the desire to keep living was the strongest of them all.

But Roxas shook his head. "No... I'm glad _you _found me."

Axel stared at the boy, feeling his irises glow as they had a habit of doing in the darkness. He saw the details of the human. His bright hair. The freckles dusting his face. The pale lashes of his eyes. The honesty of his look.

The boy didn't glance away. Boy? Could he really keep calling him that? By human standards, he was a man. He was brave like a man. He had proven as much.

Axel wondered if he should say something. The spike in his pulse certainly did.

The waiter, that accursed, _wretched_ waiter, chose that moment again to pop by and deliver their steaming food.

The red-head imagined breaking the human's spine over his knee. Demyx, however, gave his fellow employee a respectful nod. Then, he looked ravenously at the meat in front of him. Even Namine, cute, petite creature that she was, let a little of her wolf out. The light in her eyes was unmistakably feral. Both of them seemed to have forgotten the silverware all together as they stared at their meal.

The waiter placed Axel's plate on his spot of the table and then fled before they could ask any more of him. Not that they wanted to.

Demyx began to carve into his steak with loud, squishing sounds and Namine mirrored him.

Axel watched the boy cut his food with fork and knife. He was slow. Precise. Obviously, his hunger was not _quite_ that of a Lycan.

_He's not even_ really_ a Lycan. He's only a forth of one_…

Axel took a smile from this and inhaled a deep breath of his meat.

He remembered running through the trees. Bones breaking against his fangs. Muscle and sinew ripping in his teeth. A full belly lying curled against the bark of a pine.

_We can't stay in this hotel much longer. I'll go crazy… We all will. _

His home was calling.

The confrontation with Xemnas this would inexorably bring about burned in his skull.

_**So be it. **_

Axel growled his assent and viscously stabbed his knife into his steak. He devoured it without a second thought.

OooOOoo

Okay, this chapter is my personal favourite so far. Just saying... Hope you guys liked it! Let me know =) Poor Ventus. The good leaders always seem to go that route I'm afraid…

Ta ta for now!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**: Destiny

The four finished their dinners in record time. The loud sounds of their feasting had drawn many looks from the hotel guests around them. Small children had openly stared. Adults nearby were on edge, feeling an unstoppable tendril of fear crawl up their spines. Rabbits in the presence of even tame dogs will feel it. The natural urge to _flee_.

But it hadn't lasted long. Demyx had swallowed his steak nearly whole and had then downed numerous baskets of complementary bread sticks. He was the one paying, after all. Though his stomach surely called for at least three more steaks, his wallet protested otherwise. Namine was the second to finish. Axel the third. The last minutes of their meal together were spent watching the boy stuff chunks into his mouth as fast as he could. Even then, he was still the slowest eater of the table. Axel enjoyed the sight. Another mark of his humanity. He didn't understand why exactly he _didn't_ want the boy to have Lycan blood.

Yes. That was what had gnawed at his mind as surely as his own fangs had gnawed at his steak. Was the boy a Lycan, or wasn't he?

_**Lycans are strong. Brave. You should be happy for him. **_

Axel sighed. His inner-wolf had spoken. A happening that always made his gut wrench in dissatisfaction.

Why? Why was he suddenly so apt to begrudge his instincts?

_**It's the humans. All these humans. They are changing you. It's time to leave.**_

Axel hid his clenched teeth behind a napkin. _I can't leave. Not yet. The boy…._

_**The boy has his wolf. He can fend for himself now. **_

_The boy is _not_ a wolf. _

_**He is. You feel it. We both do. **_

_I don't want this for him!_

_**Because…?**_

The red-head twitched, his foot knocking the leg of their table and rattling the forks and knives. _Because! Because that means….means he will have to live what I've lived through. Fighting off the Pack. Surviving the cold, the hunts. He is so young..._

They were looking at him now. Axel sighed and found the boy's eyes. Crystalline blue eyes that had not witnessed death or suffering. Not yet. _He is safer with the humans. Living a life here… Here with microwaveable foods and beds and..and.._

_**Safer, without you? Stop lying to yourself. **_

**_He is part _Lycan_. Rejoice, Brother. Rejoice and admit him to where he belongs. At your side. In our New Pack. _**

"_Enough_!" Axel yelled, roaring to his feet.

A sea of gasps met his ear and he looked around, meeting the eyes of pale humans. A lady dressed in pink had a piece of lettuce raised halfway to her mouth. It hung forgotten as she gazed at him in breathless fright. Then the waiters. They stood huddled by the kitchen, sticking close to the wall with their trays pressed to their chests like shields.

The red-head let out a growl of frustration. _Oh great_. He looked to his two packmates. Demyx quickly stuffed the last piece of his bread behind his teeth and stood. "I'll…uh…I'll just leave the money here." He flipped open his wallet and planted a wad of cash in the center of the table. He left more than necessary. Wisely, since the latest spectacle would surely warrant the attention of his boss. The medic put a hand on Namine's back, helping her rise. "I'm so stuffed! Definitely time to hit the hay," he called for all to hear. He looked at the waiters, jerking his head towards the table staring the most. Responding to a senior employee, the men in black suits snapped to attention and resumed their paths amidst the tables. People continued eating. The noise level swirled back to normalcy. Demyx smiled tightly at Axel and his aqua eyes said it all. _Let's not make any more of a scene. _

"Whatever," he huffed. He jammed his hands in his pockets and used his long legs to get ahead. He bypassed tables and chairs like a winding snake. Soon, he was out in the lobby. Axel took in a clear breath.

He'd been stubborn for too long. Fighting his instincts was a losing battle. Fighting against his Brother Wolf, a signature etched across his every strand DNA, was even worse. It was sabotage. _I'll ask him tonight._ Green eyes stared out of the glass of the hotel's double doors. The darkness of night rolled out like a blanket upon the city. A thousand lights of stores and street lights were like fireflies under the sable fabric.

_I'll…ask him to stay._ A humming in his chest was the answer of his wolf. A firm approval.

Axel smiled thinly. His hands slicked back stray spikes of hair against his temples. _Finally, we're in agreement._

Demyx and Namine entered his senses. They walked ahead of him and flashed blue eyes his way. _If you wanted to leave, you could have just said so_, Namine told him gently. He shrugged. _My instincts. They're….they're making a choice for me_. The girl stopped. The medic stopped too, his hand still on her back. Their ears pricked forwards as they waited expectantly. Obediently.

"What do you choose, Alpha?" she whispered. Her blood was racing. A sharp smile held her lips. Demyx watched him guardedly. "Whatever it is," the medic said, his grip tightening on Namine ",-let it wait till' morning." Axel sobered. He watched the face of his old friend. _I will not force you to leave this place, Demyx. This is your job. I won't uproot your life here. I have already asked too much of you_…. The medic stiffened.

Then, his shoulders relaxed and his signature, languid smile came out.

_Ax, you know I must follow_. Blue eyes lowered to rest on the palest head of blonde hair. He inhaled her scent soundlessly and his smile widened. When he looked back to Axel, Demyx's face was dark with purpose. "Truthfully, I'm getting a bit bored of this place anyway." The red-head grinned and clapped the other man on the shoulder.

Life was rolling forwards, as it always did. Change was biting at their heels.

"Thank you for dinner, my friend," he said and they nodded. The two Lycans continued down the hall and up towards the abandoned lounge. Namine cast a silver wink over her shoulder. Axel frowned. Suddenly, she looked so much older to him. Her body close to Demyx's as she walked, the night casting her skin several shades rosier. _Where is the little wolf who collected pinecones and chased her tail?_ The girl had matured since they left the forest. With the absence of Pack, she seemed to change every day. To bloom and grow into the exotic flower she was.

The two Lycans were almost out of sight. But before they turned a corner, Namine tripped and pitched ungracefully forwards with a yip. Demyx caught her, of course, and the two laughed softly to each other. Axel shook his head_. Ah. There she is._

His lips twisted and turned to watch Roxas detach himself from the restaurant doors.

OooOooooOo

"Um- what was all that about?" the boy asked. He came to a stop by Axel, wiping steak juices form his chin. He hadn't yet been finished when Demyx chose to briskly usher them out.

Axel smiled apologetically. "I don't mix to well with crowded places," he offered lamely. This was true once… But he had long ago accustomed himself to the stink and noise of human bodies crammed into one place. The human experience was part of the job. They were his targets and his victims. Adapting to their fumbling, graceless ways was a trail that all Pack….all of _Xemnas' _Pack had been forced to undergo.

Roxas responded in empathy. "Oh….oh right. I forgot that your senses are…so much sharper than mine." Axel smiled. The boy confused him, delighted him. He may have grown used to their stink, but he would never grow used to their emotions. Their ability to _feel_. The prey feeling bad for the predator. Just another of the boy's many quirks.

Axel started walking towards the doors. "A walk outside should help me clear my head."

His heart warmed slightly as he heard the boy trail after him. "Yeah, me too."

Axel pushed open the doors and reveled in the brisk air. He hadn't been outside in a couple days. Underneath the smells of exhaust and metal and sewage, he smelled it. Smelled the moist mixture of snow and soil. The green shards of cold pine needles. Even the diluted wisps of furry animals foraging and sleeping. The forest. His only true home.

It took in a heavy lungful and let it all out as a puff of water vapor.

The two of them walked down the sidewalk and around the massive hotel. They walked until the main building was behind them and a fence enclosing the property was a foot away. Axel leaned against it, straining towards the trees so far away but not out of reach.

"You miss it?"

Axel looked up. The dark clouds of winter blocked out the sea of stars. But he knew they were there. Spheres of light blazing in the black sky.

"Yes."

He turned to the boy. Roxas had crouched down in the clipped grass. He rolled a blade between pink fingers. "That's your home, right?" Axel said nothing. "There's no way you live in the city. That's why we're in a hotel. Because you don't live here and you never have. You live out there." He motioned with his chin to the forest miles away.

Axel smiled, glad for the darkness. Something had happened over dinner. A barrier had been crossed. Axel no longer felt like he was drowning in an ocean of confusion. For, dealing with a human that called to his instincts but confounded his reason was indeed a stressful ordeal. Did the knowledge that Ventus was the boy's grandfather provide the answer to all his questions? What _that_ the reason he was so drawn? Axel couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it instantly. He eyes. The hair. They were nearly identical.

_But Ventus is a blur to me. A specter of my past. This boy is here, now. _

And, best of all, the boy had learned to talk to him, too. No longer did they fumble with social schemas. They had, whether they knew it or not, saved each other's lives._ Roxas freed me from a life I didn't want. I gave Roxas the life he was searching for._ This was a bond that didn't need analyzing or dissecting. It was there, strong.

"You've figured me all out then, have you?" Axel said softly.

He wondered how much the boy had questioned his strange savior's motives. How many nights red hair and green eyes had kept him awake at night, staring at the ceiling. _Don't flatter yourself, fool._ The Alpha's hands tightened on the metal links under his fingers. He could snap them like threads if he wanted. He could run and run and never return to humanity. _Demyx and Namine would follow and we would cross back over those mountains, away from this wretched place. I'd never see those blue eyes again.._

"No, I haven't." Axel looked down and the boy was looking up. He raised a crimson brow. "I don't know if….if you're going to leave now."

Axel swallowed thickly.

The boy continued. "I'm healed. Of course that's thanks to you. And you have my thanks. I owe you my life." Without looking, Axel could see the human so clearly in his mind's eye. He was curled, facing the ground. His muscles were tense, his mouth a hard line. His hands uncurled from their sweaty fists and slipped under his sweater. Axel almost felt those fingers run over his own flesh. He shivered. The boy touched his chest where the lacerations once split the skin. Now, he felt only whole flesh. Beautiful, unmarred flesh. A healing akin to that only of a Lycan.

Axel kept these thoughts to himself. The boy had no idea of his second bloodline. It was up to Axel to teach him. Wasn't it? Wasn't it already catalogued into his master plan to take the boy into the forest and help him discover claws and fangs?

The image this inspired was upsetting.

He didn't even know if the boy could transform. Sure he could heal, he could eat. But, what was naked skin and blunt, human teeth in the harsh depths of the pine trees..

He blinked when the boy's voice rung out again in the chill air.

"I owe you everything, Axel." Green eyes met blue. "But, you don't owe me a thing."

Roxas got to his feet. He rubbed his hands and breathed a misty breath onto them. Axel kept his face blank as the boy watched him. "You have your friend, Demyx. A Lycan like you, right? Because you're all Lycans. A pack." The redhead nodded slowly. The boy had never spoken this much before, and certainly not with as serious a tone.

_Here we go. _

The boy's heartbeat was quickening. "You have Demyx and you have _her_." Roxas smiled blandly. "Namine. She's your girlfriend right?"

Axel frowned. It took him a moment to recall the human meaning for the word 'girlfriend'. It was roughly the equivalent of a Lycan mate. The image of his Namine as his mate was a jarring one. It turned his blood to ice. Namine? The wolfling he had protected and cared for like a sister? No. Never would such a thing occur between them. He cared for her more deeply than any of their former Pack. Demyx of course, occupied the second largest spot in his instinctual heart. Both wolves were lives he had taken ownership of. They were his to protect and his to nurture. He was Alpha. But anything more than that was out of the question. Demyx and Namine were practically mated as it was.

Axel rubbed his eyes and forcibly recovered from his shock.

"Roxas, Namine is my packmate. _Not _my mate. You misunderstand."

The boy's eyes widened. Then he looked away, the tips of his ears heating.

"I've seen you two together. Hugging and…and..," he said softly, picking at the dry grass.

Axel sat down besides Roxas, refusing a grin. The human's misinterpretation of Pack affection was slightly amusing. Thinking back, Axel and Namine hadn't been the chastest of packmembers in front of Roxas.

_Axel leaned down to nuzzle the patch of skin underneath her ear. "Thank you, Namine," he whispered. Had she been in wolf form, her tail would have been wagging uncontrollably._

_Namine leaned against Axel's shoulder and he watched her gently. "It feels right. Feels like a home." Her face retreated deeper into her hood. Axel gently tucked some hair behind her ear. _

_Then, she balanced on her tiptoes and smeared the scent jelly across Axel's nape. She stood, supported on his chest, for a minute a two before she was done. Roxas cleared his throat noisily and the two stepped apart._

Axel looked back on these moments and shook his head with a smile. Hugging and nuzzling and touching were not amorous in nature for wolves. It was simply Pack bonding. Physical contact only strengthened bonds. And Axel had watched Namine grow up. They were practically 'family' by human terms and consequently had a very strong bond.

"Roxas, she is more of a sibling to me than anything. We are Pack. That's how it is." He hoped those words would clear it all up. He wasn't the best at explaining. Because, these days, he hardly understood anything at all. _Pack rules go without saying. They can _not_ be explained easily… Especially not to mortals. _

The boy regarded his face critically. The blue eyes were drops of ink in the night. Axel allowed himself to be studied. After a moment, the boy looked away. "Oh…," he breathed quietly. The Lycan felt the boy's relief permeate the air.

It clicked. Green eyes expanded. Axel new the boy's next words before he said them.

"Well…. It doesn't change anything. You guys are a pack. I know that… But I'm not. I'm just an outsider. You saved me but now you all will leave and…and well. Well I've gotten' kinda' used to you guys…" The boys smirked coldly, trying to detach himself from the emotions toiling in his chest.

Axel moved.

A hand closed over the boy's shoulder. Roxas jerked beneath the palm, face twisting as if burned. Axel noted the reaction belatedly while speaking- seeking to remedy the boy's fears and his own.

"Roxas, I understand that you are on a journey. Believe me. You left your home. Now, your have no where to go back to. But if you really wish to stay with us, I will allow it. We all will."

The boy's face was hot. Axel could see the blood swirling like currents underneath the skin. Blue eyes shed their veil of darkness, glowing once more like crystals of sapphire. The Lycan frowned as the boy let loose a blinding smile. "Really? You…you'll let me stay?"

Axel should have been pleased by the boy's obvious delight. He _wanted_ to stay with Axel. He actually enjoyed their company. Axel should have been completely content. Finally, his most secret hope had been confirmed.

But Axel wasn't.

More than just excitement was moving in the boy. It had started when Axel touched him. Now, his brow was perspiring at an unusual rate. Even in thrall, humans did not sweat this much in such low temperatures. Axel removed his fingers and the boy swayed towards him.

"I…I wanna' thank you again Axel," the boy said, almost slurred. He blinked his eyes slowly and when they opened, his eyes were brighter than ever. Iridescent- actually emitting their own light. Human eyes did not do that. "You…you saved me. Healed m-me." Axel was alarmed now. He caught the boy's arms in both his hands and held him at a distance. Roxas had seemed to lose control of his muscles. He dropped limply in Axel's grasp, his neck struggling to support his head.

Was he reacting to medication perhaps? Was fatigue from his miraculous healing kicking in?

"Roxas. Roxas what's wrong?" Axel asked harshly, giving the boy a small shake. He needed feedback. Resorting to instincts, the red-head let out a breath and filled is lungs with a new one.

He gasped, fingers tightening like steel.

_No. No, it can't be…. _

_How?!_

The boy's scent had changed. No longer was it solely human.

He smelled it.

Smelled the authentication of Roxas' theorized lineage.

_Lycan._

It had entered the boy's skin, had dripped its way down into his muscle and skeleton.

Axel snapped to action. He dragged the boy into his arms, running his hand over the boy's burning forehead. "Roxas talk to me!" The boy was no longer smiling drunkenly. His wet face was contorted in concentrated pain. Pain like he had felt upon Xemnas' claws entering and ripping into his body. He vibrated against Axel's chest, a squirming and cracking of flesh and bone moving under his skin.

It was the transformation. It _was_ possible, and it was **happening**. To Roxas. His Roxas.

Axel sprung to his feet. He knew what needed to be done. It was all happening so fast. But, he would stick to the plan. There was no returning to the hotel and parading under a façade of humanity any longer.

Roxas was coming with them to the forest. He would be shown his Lycan blood and taught how to live with it. _And it starts now._

Axel crouched and summoned his massive stores of strength to his legs and feet. He rocketed off the ground and over the 10-ft fence. He landed liquidly; rolling into a sprint so fast, a human eye could not have followed it.

Behind him, he sent out signals to Namine and Demyx.

_**I somehow activated Roxas' Lycan blood. We are going to the forest. Meet me there and bring blankets, food and medicine. Take what you need. **_

_**We're not coming back. **_

Axel cast one more look at the boy in his arms, a being that never for a moment had stopped surprising him. His blonde hair was lengthening. From the wall of his clenched teeth, sharpening canines gleamed eerily. Axel felt his own wolf respond and push against his spirit. With a cocktail of fear and excitement brewing in his heart, Axel pushed off the ground with a burst of speed- zooming across the land like a bullet.

Together, they charged into a new destiny.

_This time, I will protect him. I will protect us all. _

OooOooo

Hello everyone! Sorry this update took so long. School, work . You know how it is. But I will _always_ make time for this story when I receive a nice weekend of freedom. Sooooo, anyone see this coming? Ha ha let me know your thoughts :P


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine:** Lessons

It had taken Axel's hours upon hours to drive from the forest to the city in his retreat from Xemnas.

Now, he was having to retrace this path- without a truck and without a clue to what would happen next.

Axel shook his head with a snort, panting misty plumes of vapor into the winter air. His legs were blurs beneath him. For the first time in a long while, he didn't have the time to think. To plan or worry or despair. It was only running. Axel rolled back into instincts and let the ticking, twitching noise of reason fade into silence.

He was the wolf. Not in form, not yet, but in mind.

Side walks and roads passed under-foot like water. Cars would occasionally jump out like startled animals, flashing him with brilliant beams. The metal beasts were ignored. Axel raced in front of the vehicles and off into his chosen path as a red blur. Naturally, the unexpecting drivers veered away from him. The Lycan found the remainder of his trip to be quite plagued with the sound of screeching tires and the explosive noises of metal colliding against metal. But he disregarded such dins. He just kept on running- careless of the human chaos he left in his wake. He kept jumping over any obstacle that presented itself. Signs, buildings, houses and even telephone wires were crossed with one bound. Then, his feet cracked roof tiles and asphalt like eggshells as he reconnected with earth.

If he paused to think about it, Axel might have been alarmed at the level of destruction he was single-handedly causing.

But, he wasn't. Thinking. No time.

As the Lycan arched over another car and past the blare of horns and the cries of pedestrians, Axel glanced down at his parcel. At Roxas, the chain behind his collar, the drive of all of his actions.

The shaking figure was hot. Hot enough to make Axel's skin turn slightly pink with burn. The wolf didn't notice the feeling, however. Pain was not an issue. Just as the rocks and glass knifed into his heels and the pulsing, throbbing of his lungs were _not_ an issue.

A high-pitch sound worked its way out of his throat. He spared one more look at the boy's mask of pain and twist of wet, blond hair before he was up- soaring over a dumpster and into a brick wall. His toes tore through his shoes and into the stone, propelling him upwards. He was flying, soaring like a bird. Over a roof. Streaming polluted air out of his nostrils. Back on a side walk, darting across another endless street.

* * *

><p>It was an eternity of metal and sirens before he was out of the city.<p>

Axel didn't notice right away. It was only once he was feeling snow mixed with dirt squishing under his bare feet (as his shoes were nearly destroyed and no longer provided any barrier against the ground), that he realized.

The Lycan spared one second to let the scent of crystallized water and sodden soil tingle in his senses, before he was again completely focused on the line ahead. Foot after foot followed this invisible line. His feet were soundless as they glided over the snowscape.

_There. Almost there. _

The thoughts were like bomb explosions in the utter quietude of his skull. Axel remembered for a moment what it was to be humanesque. His instincts crested like a wave. Once again, he was drowned in them. Run. What was there to do, but run.

He skated over ice and rock and plunged into a waiting embrace of trees.

* * *

><p>It was when his vision began to bleed bright red on the edges that he slowed his mad frenzy.<p>

Finally. Finally he had reached the forest.

Axel took in and let out 10 successive breaths in a second's span, his lungs shrunk and burnt like jerky, and dug his heels in. A snow-and-leaf soup congealed around his ankles. He stopped when his feet were submerged in the forest floor's white carpet.

The Lycan blinked. He couldn't see anymore.

It took all he had to keep conscious.

He shook his soaked head, steam coiling off his shoulders and scalp in thick fumes.

_Focus. _

Axel growled defiantly. A grating, broken sound that had his chest heaving. He dropped to his knees. Bone met ground with a feeling of ice-picks slicing into his caps. He winced.

And so he stopped.

His body took a solid hour to readjust to stillness. To cancel out the vibrating of its skeleton and muscles, to calm the bubbling of his blood.

Doubled over, Axel let his brain writhe against his skull. It throbbed. Once every minute. It hurt. Sparks behind his eyelids, fire in his marrow. Oh yes, it hurt.

Too much. He had used too much of his energy.

But he was patient. Agelessness tended to do that.

After another passing of time, he had ceased caring how long exactly, he reached homeostasis. His breathing pattern had reclaimed normalcy. His heart and brain had ebbed away from the brink of implosion.

Axel sighed in relief and took in a grateful, cooling breath.

Ice. Forest. Bark. Soil. The vapours swirled in his orifices, wicking away his last traces of pain.

Crystalline-green eyes opened.

_Roxas. _

His face jerked down, his hands clutching at empty air. His arms were empty. The boy was gone.

Panic plumed into his blood. He was on his feet and palms, crouched and ready to submit his body to another break-neck marathon. His fanged mouth was wide open and collecting air. The scents of all animals funnelled into his awareness. Ready, he was ready to find-

-and then he did. The boy was mere steps away. Axel blinked. His adrenaline deflated and his bloodied feet relaxed back into the snow. Roxas must have crawled away during Axel's slight rest.

The Lycan made his way over to the boy. Tiredly, he rolled him onto his back. Axel wasn't thinking. He just acted. Had he not been so wearied, he would have been able to dodge the hand of claws that razored across his jaw.

But the attack was too fast, and he was much too slow.

Axel felt his eyes go wide. The claws continued to scissor through his flesh. He jerked back in time to save the rest of his face.

One hand went to cradle the injured cheek. Warm rivulets of blood trickled down his fingers. The other went to the ground, catching him before he pitched backwards.

_What the-?_

Axel looked back up. Anger made itself known on his tongue. How had he missed sensing an aggressor? His red hand clenched and he moved both hands to his sides, slipping into a fighting stance.

His eyes were drawn once more to Roxas like magnets.

He understood, then.

Understood where the claws had come from. They were boy's.

With dawning dread, Axel took in the latest details of Roxas' transformation. His usually mess of blonde spikes had worked downwards, now encompassing his cheeks and chin. His fur. His fur was growing. Claws, too, were now jagged peaks on fingers and toes. Axel was surprised he had not noticed their prick as he ran. But then, he had noticed very little outside of his legs and feet. Next, the Alpha pityingly examined the boy's limbs. They were held bent to his body, the bones obviously warped into unnatural angles. This geometry, however, did not hinder the boy's movement. The flash of his arm had been testament to this. The boy was mobile. The boy was a threat.

Axel stared coldly into a pair of feral eyes. Eyes bleached to the colour of pale ice, with only the thinnest sliver of black pupil remaining.

The boy had become more wolf than human, though his body continued to cling stubbornly to its human dimensions.

Axel took a small step backward. The human-wolf hybrid growled with a mouth much too full of teeth and fangs.

"It's okay," he whispered softly. The Lycan held his hands in front of him placating. He deliberately sent waves of calm out into the air, hoping to soothe the new creature before him. Axel kept his breaths slow and even. He pushed the shards of his pain to the furthest recesses of his thoughts. Before, he had been obsessively focused on running. Now, he must be centred on the opposite. Stillness. Tranquillity.

But grief moved just beneath his façade.

He could see the fear in the boy's eyes. And he knew that he could not easily remedy it. The boy had great hardships ahead. The worst of it was, Roxas had _no_ idea what was going on. He was totally unaware of his true self. And he, alone, was the one subject to its most peculiar intricacies.

Once more, the boy was being shoved into a world he was not ready for.

_But, I'm here. I was before, and I am now. I always will be. _

Axel closed his eyes, steeling his will. In transformations, the changeling was always the one with the least control. The pup's form was fluctuating, struggling to fit a churning and twisting spirit. It was the Alpha wolf that was the foundation. An unshakeable source of familiarity and truth. Ventus had been this for him. Now, it was his turn.

_**Let me out. I am needed. **_

Axel wanted to argue. He wanted to try his hand at being calm, at talking the boy through it.

_Let me talk to him. He'll remember me, given time. _

His brother wolf howled. Axel gagged, his lungs locking. His blood forcefully freezing in place.

**_Let me _OUT.**

_O-okay… Okay._

Deep down, he knew his human glamour was not strong enough to break through to the boy. Only cold, carnal instincts would translate to him now.

Helplessly, Axel let his defences drop. His wolf cackled in delight.

* * *

><p>In a flurry of snow-drift, his body was remade. Like stepping out of clothes, Axel easily discarded skin and fingers for fur and paws. His ears lengthened and swiveled forward, catching a plethora of sounds formerly missed. His pointed nose elongated and rounded. A copper snout now gleamed. A moist, black nose drunk in the identities of tree and water drop.<p>

It took the snowflakes a moment to settle. Axel the Wolf shook his brown fur. Icy sunlight caught on the ruff, turning it ruby for a brief second. He nearly purred with satisfaction as he felt the strength in his haunches, the beloved tautness of his tail. Oh his tail. He had missed it. He gave it a happy shake and turned to the pup. The sandy pup that was undergoing an ancient but very familiar metamorphosis.

The wolf cocked his head. It was a very odd pup, he decided, as he examined it with lupine eyes. He was missing much fur, and pink, hairless patches were noticeable on his face and paws. But…they weren't really paws... They were more like talons. Thin, bony talons with strange, black claws.

The wolf whined. It didn't make sense.

To relieve this, he took in a deep waft of the changing pup. He smelled wolf. Warm, spicy wolf that did much to please his instincts. And he smelled human…. He smelled cheap blankets and steak sauce and medicine and the lingering touch of bandages.

Then it all came back. The escape. The hotel.

_Roxas! It's Roxas!_

Axel quickly intook a breath, blinking away the part of him that was purely animal.

He had….had forgotten the boy for a moment. Best not lose himself completely to his brother.

He growled, flattening his ears to his skull. _Not again. I _know _what I must do. _

The pup- _Roxas_- was staring at him now. He was curled into a ball, clearly cowed by large beast before him. His budding instincts told him to submit. This was natural between a wolf of lower-standing and an Alpha. Axel frowned. He didn't want to frighten the boy….-but it would have to do. The copper wolf crossed to the changeling in languid steps. Roxas curled further away, letting out a soft, warning growl.

_Oh. So, your not entirely afraid, are you?_

_Good. _

He stopped when he was an inch from the boy. The boy's hair-like fur was standing on end. His upper lip was curled and pale eyes were stark in an instinctual need to fight back at an enemy, not on the outside, but within.

_Calm yourself. _

Axel let out an imperial bark. Loud. It rung throughout their copse of trees like the pure report of a gun.

The boy was silenced at once. His face went slack as he looked up at his superior.

Axel regarded the boy down the lines of his snout. He displayed his sharp canines and permeated the air with his dominance.

Roxas rolled onto his back. His claws tucked harmlessly to his chest. His body shook in staccato breaths and his blue eyes, hallowed in golden lashes, filled up with the Alpha before him.

_Good. Now that I have your attention, we can begin. _

Axel smiled inwardly. He lowered his head and slid his nose against the boy's pink cheek. It was soft there. As soft as peach-skin. Roxas shuddered, his legs scrabbling to push him back and away from the touch. Axel growled sharply. Automatically, the boy went limp. Though the Lycan could clearly sense the ocean of energy brewing in the boy's veins, the changeling wisely kept himself still.

Axel continued with his ministrations. He sat down and let his tongue loll. He then proceeded to scrape it across the boy's brow. Roxas squirmed but bore it. Axel washed the boy's face from dirt and snow that had collected during the run. Then he licked the boy's facial hair down and into place, taming the cowlick that had formed a jagged crown. Lastly, he washed the ears. The pointed ears that were only just taking their lupine shapes.

By the time he was done, Roxas had eased into a comfortable crouch. His eyes were ever-watchful. But his claws no longer called for blood and his heart had returned to its relaxed rhythm.

Axel pulled back with one more lick across the boy's nose and admired his handiwork. The results were acceptable.

The transformation was finally beginning to reverse. The hair had retreated from Roxas' face and back onto its rightful place on his head. His hands had once more returned to bluntness, though the inky shade still remained around his cuticles.

_He's back. _

Axel's fur stood on end as the boy blinked. He gazed back out with eyes the color of sapphire.

The wolf inhaled the salty, sandy scent of the boy and wagged his tail appreciatively.

_There he is._ The Lycan blood had officially been pushed back. For now.

Roxas groaned and shook his head. His human face scrunched up and he hung his head in his hands.

"Uuuuurrrgggghhhhh," he muffled into his palms.

Axel let out an understanding bark.

Roxas froze. He raised his head slowly and took in the large, tawny wolf anew.

Fear spiraled into the clearing like a hurricane. Axel wrinkled his nose, realizing that Human Roxas had much less control over his emotions than Changeling Roxas.

_Roxas, peace. It's me. Axel. _

But the boy's senses were once again mute. No longer could he sense Axel's physical communications.

The Lycan rolled his eyes. Larger than the average wolf, the boy's face came level just to the bottom of his chest. The boy now tipped his face up and up. Their eyes connected in the cold air like electricity.

"Holy crap!"

Axel settled himself in the snow, tail making a slow, patient wave.

Roxas held himself aback, chest heaving. Then, the dawning realization took root and the indigo eyes acquired a pearly glint.

"Axel. You're…..you're a _wolf_!"

Axel stared at the boy in silence.

At this lack of reaction, Roxas frowned. He eventually looked away from the wolf and off into the clearing. He took note of the towering pines. He shivered, his body catching the icy coldness of the forest at last. He huddled into his sweater, rubbing his arms. His fingers caught on various popped seams and tears. The boy's brow knitted and he bent to examine the numerous holes. "How the..?" he muttered, touching his exposed arm skin with a finger.

_You ripped it when your limbs stared lengthening. _

Axel moved in his position, kneading his claws into the snow. The boy's attention was caught and he looked back to the wolf. The Alpha was expectantly motionless.

"Um…this _is _Axel, right?" he asked, voice trembling a little at the end.

_**Typical human. **_

Axel couldn't agree more. With a very unwolf-like sigh, the Lycan rose to run his tongue up the side of the boy's cheek.

Roxas sputtered but waited until Axel laid back down. His face was stained with blush. Satisfied, Axel let his black lip quirk in the closest he could come to a smile.

"Yeah, it's you," Roxas said quietly. His fingers, quite pink now, rose to touch his face. He flinched, remembering the last time he felt Axel's tongue, not more than 10 minutes ago.

"I…I was…," he breathed, eyes going feverish. He gagged, unable to speak such a strange and foreign fact.

_Changing. You were changing into a Lycan- yes._

Axel wondered if he would feel sad now. Guilty. He always seemed so inclined to pity the boy.

But not now. As a wolf, it all seemed so simple. Utterly clear.

Roxas was a part of his Pack now. Tomorrow, Axel would teach him how to change on command and see just how far he could go.

The boy submerged his hand into the chaos of his flaxen, spikes. "I…I couldn't have.. I..," he drifted off into a series of mutterings that Axel didn't care to pay attention to.

The Alpha got to his paws and moved to wrap himself around the boy. Roxas didn't notice. He was shaking, silently reliving the horror of the change. Axel didn't say anything. He couldn't. He somberly nestled his large head in the boy's lap. It took up all the space here, and Axel was happy for this.

When he changed back to his human glamour, he would be awash with feelings, he knew. He would likely be in no better a state than the human**:** worrying the past and what _wasn't _done and tangling threads that were already in order.

_But, for now, he is restored and I must only wait for Demyx and Namine to return. _

The wolf twitched his ears in anticipation. His Pack. They were making their way through city still, but they were coming. He could smell them like thick smoke in the atmosphere.

Everything was well. And, best of all, they were back in the forest.

Axel the Wolf closed his eyes and drifted into idleness as he listened to the chirping of birds high in the pine tops.

* * *

><p>Finally, I update! This is for you . Sorry for the loooooonnnnnnng wait. Happy Holidays! XD<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Play**

Axel was still in his wolf form when the rest of his Pack arrived. He was loathe to relinquish the strength and power that still coursed through his veins.

_No. No, I'll not be human again until I must._

Demyx and Namine had taken a hotel's van to carry the supplies. Once they reached the edge of the forest, however, they were forced to leave it behind. Creations of man were not welcome in the trees. Especially not trees that Lycans claimed territory.

The two had crossed the rest of the forest as he had: At a sprint and laden with baggage. The backpacks they carried upon their shoulders had enough food, first aid kits and blankets to surely equal the weight of a young man.

Namine was the first to break from the pines. She was not out of breath, her Lycan strength could be thanked for that. But her pale cheeks were flushed all the same. Silver flashed in her eyes like coins when she saw him. "Axel!" She breezed over the snow, her delicate trod hardly leaving a mark on the white blanket. Her bulging pack slipped from her arms, crunching into the ice. The female knelt to examine the boy interwoven in the pale fur of Axel's belly. Her pink hands pulled a face from the fur. She took in a deep breath as her nose ghosted over Roxas' visage.

"He's stabilized. That's good."

She sighed and connected with Axel's emerald stare.

A flood of emotions swelled between them.

_You left us. _

_I had to. The boy was going through the change. _

_So he_ is_ a Lycan. _

_Yes. _

_One of us?_

_One of us._

She nodded. Then both pairs of eyes swung to take in the third of their company. "Why can't you ever do anything in an organized manner, Ax?" Demyx sighed. He let his pack drop next to Namine's. He regarded the red wolf and the blonde girl critically. After a moment, he eased into a less rigid stance. He wasn't Alpha after all. If he _had_ actually found any fault in Axel's actions, he certainly wouldn't have said it aloud. The medic gave his friend another exasperated look before digging into his brown backpack.

_I'm sorry if I worried Namine_, he said silently to Demyx. The blue eyes flashed. _But I've taken care of it, and now we're all together. We needed to move back into the forest eventually, anyway. I just pushed the date up to today._

Demyx shrugged. He couldn't argue. He could only trail after his Alpha and pick up the pieces.

"Does he need a blanket?" the medic asked, his breath a series of opaque puffs.

Axel blinked his khol-lined eyes languidly. He moved to swallow the boy deeper into his fur.

"Right," Demyx said. His hands emerged empty from the pack and he looked gravely at the boy. "How…-," he started. Then he blew steam from his nostrils and ruffled his mohawk. "How exactly are we going to deal with this?"

Axel could tell that the other Lycan was frustrated. His job had been voided. His apartment, his plans, his whole life had been thrown away in favor of joining a Pack he had left behind him long ago.

He barked. His authority. His supremacy. It vibrated through the clearing and bounced among the pine needles. Small animals scurried away and buried deeper into their holes. Overhead birds suddenly took flight.

Namine and Demyx started and lowered their heads.

_**I have this under control.**__ He will become part of our Pack, and until then, we will continue to act like one. _

Namine beamed, pleased to see a familiar side of her packmate. The city had made him too angsty. Too self-doubting. She has seen it, and bore it. But now he was taking control. As usual. The girl flung off her sweater like one did shackles and chains. Next came her undergarments and then her shoes and socks. Demyx noticed only after the fact. He blushed slightly and turned his face away.

Then, in a reaction that had all their senses tingling, Namine was once more a wolf.

Axel watched with a faint grin as a small wolf, nearly a single large puff of pale fur, shook her ears with loud flapping motions. Then, she met his gaze with eyes the color of storm clouds. The wolf loped to him and nuzzled him friendly. They exchanged scents and greetings.

Namine gave Roxas another sniff before commencing in trotting around the clearing, accustoming her paws to the feel of snow.

"I um….," Demyx mumbled. His eyes were glued to the white, peachy wolf. It had been long. Too long since he had seen her this way. He licked his lips and turned back to Axel. "I haven't turned…well since….you know." He grinned wryly and found his fingers back in his hair, a habit by now.

Axel flicked his ears. Demyx sighed again. The medic unzipped his sweater with slow carefulness. Then he slipped off his shirt. Everything was quiet. Waiting. Namine returned to sit by Axel's side. Her silver eyes watched Demyx's pale chest as he moved.

After a moment, his shirt continued to hang limply in his fingers. He fisted it, knuckles pale like the frost all around them.

"I…I think I'll wait," he said softly. He turned to meet the Lycan eyes. "Someone needs to be able to speak like a human when Roxas comes to." He held their gaze for a moment. Then, he looked away. Off into the tall pines.

Axel blinked. He knew Demyx was afraid. _Your Brother Wolf is still there, my friend. _

…_He has not abandoned you. _

Demyx frowned and wrinkles formed between his brows. If he had understood Axel's silent words, he made no sign of it. He only slipped his clothing back on and walked away. His hands were in his pockets as he looked tightly into the waiting forest.

* * *

><p>Roxas surfaced to two very large wolf faces of brown and white.<p>

He flinched and struggled for a second. Axel leaned in to nuzzle his face. The nose, the size of his fist, glided over his check in a moist caress.

Roxas blinked rapidly. Tentatively, he put his hand on the crimson snout. Axel let his eyelids descend sleepily. The boy breathed in wonder.

"Wow," he steamed, fingers inching up the red fur. "I…I forgot how big you were."

He shook his head and looked to the white wolf. "Namine?"

She let out a light bark and let her tongue loll. Roxas laughed but dared not touch her. Her eyes and fur were more that of the wolves he had been taught to fear as a child, and even as an adult. Fiery Axel was a red Lycanthrope, easy to spot. Easy to believe to have qualities other than that of a cold, calculated hunter. He had a human half. A magic in him that diluted his killer instincts.

The white wolf to his side, however, was much less magical. More animal, more predator.

Namine tilted her head and let out a soft whine. Her silken ears drooped, making her look very much like a puppy being jipped out of her share of the treats. Roxas swallowed his fear, recognizing the blonde girl from the hotel once again. His delicately ran his fingers along her cheek and watched her tail beat a rhythm on the snow. He laughed softly in wonder. "Namine! Yes, I recognize you." He rose further from Axel's coiled body to begin scratching behind a large, pointed ear.

"Welcome back, Roxas," Demyx called.

The boy jerked his head in the direction of the noise, heartbeat jumping to higher speeds.

Once he spied the medic though, sitting by a fire with the same old haircut and the same old jacket on, his body nearly sagged in relief.

"Demyx! You're here too," he said. Axel felt his tail wag once, pleased. The boy was happy to see them. All of them. This was a good sign. _Perhaps…he is ready to be Pack_. The ruddy wolf got to his paws. The boy remained in the snow. He looked at Axel in askance, his body beginning to sink into the snowdrift.

Axel motioned to the fire with his head. He crossed to the pile of sticks and settled back into his horizontal position. Namine followed obediently. She sat opposite Axel, next to Demyx. Naturally, mates sat together during gatherings. Namine knew this. As a wolf, her feelings towards Demyx had been solidified into instincts. What might have begun as a crush in her girlish, human heart was now, intended or not, something more. Something final. She draped herself in the snow behind the medic, eagerly circling him in her fur. The man leaned back gratefully. Their blue eyes joined in a communication secret from Axel and the boy.

Roxas crunched snow under his shoes as he approached. He took his seat somewhere in the middle of all the wolves. He stretched his hands out happily to feel the warmth of the flames. Firelight danced over his face, painted shadows under his eyes.

Axel felt briefly the need to coddle the boy. To lick him or nuzzle him or something. It came and left. It was hard to be too sympathetic in his current state. A fact Axel secretly treasured, for his emotions seemed to run amuck in his mortal glamour.

The Alpha flashed his green eyes at Demyx. The medic cleared his throat and leaned towards Roxas.

"Roxas I…well, I suppose you understand that we're all Lycanthropes. Axel, Namine and I," he started softly. Patiently.

The boy nodded. He smiled into the fire. "Yeah. I knew the moment Axel and Namine pulled me out of the snow." His gave a hollow laugh. "It's….it's pretty amazing." He wiggled his fingers, perhaps remembering the feeling of Namine's fur in between them all those days ago. His crystal eyes caught the firelight and turned topaz. "That's why I wanted to stay. Why I'm still here, I guess."

Demyx nodded. Axel watched the boy approvingly. He was open. Talking. Good. Perhaps it was the new mettle in his blood, the magic being smelted into his DNA. The red wolf blinked. _He is the only human I will ever know to feel so at ease with us. Us Lycans. Because he_** is**_ a Lycan. It was destiny that we met. For us all to be Pack, together_. Never before had his instincts shouted this truth as strongly as they did now. The red wolf flexed his dark claws into the ground.

The medic continued. "Do you understand…what happened last night? To you?"

Here the boy's eyes glinted back to sapphire. The shadows deepened. He sighed and ran his hands across his scalp. The blonde shock of hair was at its most haphazard state. Every spike seemed to have a different direction. Roxas blew a long plume of mist into the smoke, both rising into the white, morning sky.

"I…I was transofrming," he whispered. So quietly, only lupine ears caught the sound. Roxas seemed to cave in on himself, then. His bones remembered their cracking and growing. His fingers remembered their savage sharpening. But his mind. His mind was a starving thing, gasping for memories hidden in the dark. "I was changing into one of you."

His head was up. His grave gaze met each of there's, daring them to say otherwise.

Hoping, deep down, that they would.

Axel's green eyes were neon in the light. The wolf nodded. He leaned to sniff the boy's face, giving him a physical display of affection. Of satisfaction. He touched his large nose to the boy's tiny one with masterly control. Roxas didn't make a sound. His simply petted the large snout with a single pale hand. It stayed there for many long moments. Boy gaining strength from the wolf. Wolf giving it, as much as was needed.

Eventually, Axel pulled back and Roxas was left to his own space.

Demyx nodded. He was a medic. He knew how to repair the body, to turn back the clock of damage and injury. No one was as precise and as methodical as he. So Demyx nodded. The three Lycans let out a collective breath. So they didn't have to explain it all to the boy from scratch. Luckily, he had been with them long enough to recognize their traits creep upon his own flesh.

He was strong. He'd survived an attack from Xemnas. He was smart, smart enough to stay in the company of three strangers and to not ask too many questions.

They all knew the boy could handle what was coming. Had to handle it.

But, did Roxas know?

"We'd been wondering, for a couple days now, if you were really one of us. A Lycanthrope. When you told us your story, it all fit into place. Axel was the one who figured it out first." Demyx looked at his Alpha, respect flickering in his gaze. Namine's hot breaths echoed in the clearing. She put her face over Demyx's shoulder, also looking to her leader.

Roxas turned his head slightly. He clasped his hands in front of him, bronzed by the fire's touch.

"….How?" the boy asked simply.

Axel thought about turning, then. Of signaling for his brain to thrust his body back into the hearth within, and re-forge him into humanity. Then he could talk. Then he could get all his emotions and wants out into words and into the human ears he craved to hear them. The urge was there. Then, gone. Gone like so many other sentimentalities.

_**In good time, Brother. **_

Axel agreed with this side of him. The human thoughts and feelings sunk back into the depths of his consciousness.

Axel looked meaningfully at the boy.

_Your grandfather was Ventus, my former Alpha._

The boy continued to stare at him. Deaf. Afraid: The fright at being plunged into something new, alien, and unexpected simmering beneath his irises. Axel nearly felt it himself. His instincts were so finely tuned. He could hear the creaking of the trees. Smell the turning of the weather. And he could not help but pick up the emotions Roxas was radiating like a lantern. The helplessness at floating under the water, unable to break the surface and swim up and out into breathable air.

But Roxas _could_ breathe in the water, if he chose. The Lycan way was not an unknown one. Was the very way that had separated him from all his human peers, forced him out of the city and into the forest.

And there was them. His three friends, his three Lycanthropes, that were models to base his own changes upon.

Roxas did not respond. Demyx was forced once again to be his leader's mouthpiece.

"Roxas, you said you were looking for your grandfather. A man that you had never met. A man who was rumored to live here, in the trees. Correct?"

The boy nodded.

"Well, Axel recognized this man as Ventus. Also a Lycanthrope, and leader of our Pack a long time ago."

The boy did not nod this time. He stared blankly ahead, even his fingers going still.

"Your father was a half-blooded Lycan, for Ventus had not mated with one within his own Pack. This explains why your father left." Demyx stopped, realizing he had been harsh. The medic frowned, quickly seeking to remedy. "I-I have no doubt he cared for you. But….it is…_difficult_ for those with Lycan blood to remain in human cities. To keep themselves apart from nature. From where they truly belong."

"Is my grandfather dead?" the boy asked coolly.

Demyx blinked, slightly taken aback. He rubbed his hand over Namine's peach-colored paw. One finger traced the edge of snowy claw. Then he met Roxas' gaze.

"I'm afraid so. We do not know what has become of your father. He was not in our….well, the Lycan Pack that we know of. We…actually didn't think he could be apart of any Pack, seeing as it is so unlikely for halfbloods to complete the metamorphosis."

The woods were silent as the boy contemplated the latest, jagged turn in his life.

The flames crackled. Melting snow dripped loudly onto land.

"You say halfbloods can't change into a wolf," he started. His voice was loud. Almost sharp. "I can do the math and….and I know I'm even less of a Lycan than my father was."

His hands clenched. When he looked up, his pupils had thinned. Axel felt the fur on his haunches begin to rise. There it was. The boy's activated blood, rising to the call of adrenaline.

"But somehow….somehow I _can _change. Into a wolf. Is that where this is going?"

Demyx met the blue eyes with a glacial pair of his own. He glanced quickly at Axel, wondering what exactly his Alpha wanted him to say next. Axel smiled, his black gums picking up sharply at the edges.

_Tell him he can. And that I will show him how to become a real wolf._

"Tell me yourself!" Roxas shouted, and whirled on the red wolf.

Axel was on his paws by the time he met the boy's face.

_You understand my signals. Your changing again, do you feel it?_

Roxas blinked and then frowned, the fire dripping thick rivulets of darkness across his skin. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking. Perspiration beaded out of them, making the darkening edges of his nails gleam.

Roxas gasped and his blood pressure spiked. Fear. Panic. He rubbed at his hands desperately, as if the color was an ink that he could wash away.

Axel felt his own senses pick up their own electric spark of energy.

He hopped around on his paws, tail slicing through the cold air. He wouldn't let the boy be afraid of himself. Not now, not when he needed to welcome his Brother Wolf, not despise him.

He darted out a paw and hit Roxas square in the chest.

The boy tumbled into the snow, becoming lost in the white.

Demyx rose to his feet. His attention was caught, but he didn't make a move. His eyes were glued to Axel. Watching, analyzing. If the boy was harmed, the Lycan might act. But not yet.

Axel gave him a black smile, letting out a whine of excitement.

_I'm just having fun Demyx. The boy needs it. Relax. _

Demyx slowly let out a smile. He laughed and quickly found himself jostled as the large white wolf behind him began to wriggle in excitement.

It took a handful of minutes for the boy to rise from the snowdrift.

He rubbed his ribcage, sucking in giant breaths.

Then, he flashed Axel murderous eyes.

"What was that for?!" he yelled. Riding the wave of the energy inspired by an oncoming change, Roxas threw himself at the red wolf. He punched at the wide chest, uncaring if he inflicted damage or not. Axel gave his packmate the equivalent of a quirked eyebrow.

_See? He's game for a little play. _

Axel again batted his paw at the boy. This time, Roxas was ready for it. He dogged and barreled into the wolf's left haunch. Axel, surprisingly, found himself pushed back. He blinked a couple times. _Well well well…._ With a freshly wagging tail, Axel returned the push. Roxas growled and the two strained against each other like ram's locking horns.

Axel, of course, was only putting in a fraction of effort. Roxas was throwing all his human strength, and only a little of his budding wolf-strength, into toppling his opponent. He quickly drained his energy in a handful of breaths. But he wasn't done. He twirled away and jumped up to grab Axel's ear when the wolf thought himself the victor. Accordingly, the Alpha was too shocked to avoid the maneuver.

Flashing a smile, the boy pulled as hard as he could. The red wolf's head was plunged into the snow.

At this, Namine broke into a series of high pitched yips, giggling like a child. Demyx chuckled and shook his head. His forced seriousness had drained away. Now, he was able to appreciate his friend's antics…and long to join in, as he once had.

Demyx's smile grew sad. He walked away from Namine to fill a colder spot by the fire.

Oblivious, Roxas danced away before Axel retaliated. But he had nothing to fear. Axel had played his game and gotten the boy to enjoy himself. To try out his hand at strength and cleverness. Everything was going according to plan.

Axel raised his head from the snow, and looked at the boy from between the glittering flakes.

Roxas took much delight in the sight. Axel, the mighty, crimson Alpha, now drenched in snowdrift like a clumsy youngling.

The boy doubled over laughing, too tired to stand and too sweaty to feel the bite of the freeze. Namine bounded over to Roxas, not one to be omitted from any fun. She began to roll the boy with her nose. He batted her away but she refused to cease her teasing. The two continued to chase each other until Roxas was utterly covered in snow and Namine had worked herself into a light pant.

"Enough you two," Demyx called from the fire.

All looked to him like guilty pups. Axel shook himself, remembering his place. It was unbecoming for an Alpha to endorse in playtime for _too_ long. Not when this was still a serious matter.

But he was smiling as he resumed his spot by the flames.

Namine returned to Demyx's side and Roxas returned to Axel's, his physical appearance having digressed into that of a human's once more. He leaned fully against a furry leg as he shook the ice from his hair. "Roxas, keep warm. Though your body is becoming stronger, it is not strong enough yet to remain healthy in winter's snow for long." The medic's tone struck a note in them all. Sobered, Roxas walked to the backpacks and piled on several more layers of coats and blankets. Now, he was beginning to feel the cold he had kept had bay with the warmth of his fear and of his thoughts.

When he sat back down, Axel quickly trapped the boy in the furry embrace he had awoken in.

The boy smiled at the faces around him. "I can't believe it….," he said after a moment of soaking up the heat. He shook his head and grinned even wider. "I can't believe all that's happened. So fast… But, I'm glad it did." Roxas spared a look for the brightening sky.

"I didn't belong in the city. My dad didn't, either, it seems. It's all so clear now."

He looked up, carefully seeking the green eyes above him. "I think…this is where I belong."

Axel held the boy's look for a long time. Long enough to convey his meaning, even if the boy could no longer pick it up in his senses.

_**Yes.**__ You do. _

The red wolf looked to Namine. The girl snapped to attention, blinking her silver eyes expectantly.

_Let's go hunt, Namine. Are you still fast enough to catch a deer before me?  
><em>

The girl howled in challenge.

_Psh. Try and keep up, old man. _The girl winked and dashed into the pines as if carried on the wind.

* * *

><p>Sooooo, I'm a lazy bum and I can't believe it took me<em> so<em> long to sit down and write this. Guess I was to busy stuffing my face with chocolate and turkey. I hope you guys all had great holidays and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Woo! XD


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:** Homecoming

Roxas emerged from the tiny tent feeling 10 years older.

He didn't remember how exactly it had come to exist. Sure, he recalled the blissful feel of being drowned in warm fur. A giant belly of Lycanthrope fur that felt like sleeping in a downy bed, wrapped in blankets. Mmmm. Then, he remembered being forced to leave that warmth and crawl through a wretched triangle made from stitched together curtains. Which….looking back, must have been the tent. A very worn tent that Demyx had to have drawn from the darkest bowels of his backpack.

Roxas looked back spitefully at the sleeping bag he had spent the remainder of the day in. It looked more like a blue straight-jacket from his present vantage. He turned away and zipped the tent shut. He stretched his back. The lower vertebrae creaked and ached. The boy flinched and began rubbing there.

Sleeping on a giant wolf: fun. Sleeping on the cold ground while rolled in synthetic fabric: oh so very **not** fun.

He pulled his hood over his ears and wondered for the first time that morning if he was ever going to see a real bed again.

"Morning," a deep voice rumbled from somewhere to his left.

Roxas blinked and snapped his head in that direction.

There, in a small clearing outside the tent, was a fire and a tall man with apple-red hair tied fiercely into tail at the nape of his neck. The man was roasting slivers of meat in the flames. He grasped a skewer in his hand and turned it a fraction. Fire bathed his chiselled face in glow.

The boy swallowed thickly. His heart pulsed once and then resumed its normal rythm.

He carefully crossed and took a place by the fire.

The man faced him and Roxas let out a giddy smile for no apparent reason.

"So it _is_ you. Finally out of claws and fur," the boy said softly. His breath was still steam, even with the presence of the fire. Axel cocked a dark brow. "This human form it just a glamour. Like….clothes. I put it on. I take it off." Their eyes met. For a second, Roxas did not recognize anything about him. Not the eyes, the pair of green coins he had surfaced to after a life of torture. A life of fake smiles to his mom, of pretending to listen to his teachers and, the worst of all, feigning that he _enjoyed _hanging out with 'friends' who hardly knew his name. Humans. They were all just ordinary humans and he, Axel the Lycan, had taken him away from it all. Had, for better or worse, nearly gotten him killed.

Roxas swallowed. It was like forcing down a lead bullet. He settled deeper into his sweater.

Then he remembered the pain. Pain. He had certainly suffered enough of it mentally; living over a decade of life like a puppet was testament to that. But, unhampered, physical pain was an experience he had gotten very up close and personal with these past couple of days. Getting his chest grated like cheese by the scariest creature he had every laid eyes upon. Then healing. Then having his body push itself in a thousand different directions as it tried to become something else. As his stomach turned to acid and forced this acid up his throat, into his eyes, filling every cell with fire.

He closed his eyes briefly. Roxas sucked in a long lungful of spiced smoke.

Then he was looking. Looking at a new environment. Not at a road. A random road he had trekked down on a forlorn mission of finding a lost relative. His grandfather, perhaps his last and only chance of breaking away from the hell he had formerly called home. But dear old Grandpa had been nowhere to be found. Because he was, in fact, dead. Dead and gone after living the strange life of a Lycanthrope Alpha. Alpha to none other than the red-headed savior he called Axel.

The boy blushed. Savior? It seemed corny, but it was still undeniably truth.

Roxas was in a forest now. With Axel, but without the hotel. No more soup and soiled bandages. Not a single ounce of pity for his dead relative or for never having known him. He was actually…..excited. Invigorated. Full with life. _Life_. It was here, now, in the trees and in his hands for first time ever.

The boy looked boldly at his company. An emerald gaze was busy inspecting the cooking meat.

Axel was a rugged person. His lips were thin, as if they could be pulled up like paper to reveal a lethal pair of incisors. His chin was sharp and his brows were long stokes of burgundy. And his cheeks. Sharp cheeks. Sharp like the rest of him, ready to combat a world that had never been his friend.

Roxas blinked. "Your…tattoos are gone," he said reverently.

Green eyes snapped up to his. The face softened. Transformed into a happy, nearly mischievous picture. "I had a feeling they would. Like I said, this glamour isn't permanent. Now, if I had tattooed my cheeks in my wolf form…well those would have stayed." The man grinned as if to himself. He let Roxas view on through the flames. "But, I like my fur the way it is." The man sighed and poked at the coals with the long stick in his hand. "It's damn bright fur. But I get by."

The boy smiled thinly. Fur. They were talking about fur. If he ever managed to successfully transform, he would have fur too.

He looked forward to the prospect with brisk fear and thick, sugary anticipation.

Roxas put his hands out and splayed his fingers out for the warmth.

"Here." Axel passed him meat on one of the many sticks he had been nursing since he awoke. "Thanks." The boy took it and tried to examine it without being overtly obvious. He looked at if for a long second, taking in the browned flesh. Then he was staring at the sky framed with pine canopy. It was morning. Again. Which means, he had gone to sleep_ last_ morning and had slept the entire following day. Sleeping. He had slept so much in the past handful of hours.

_Because of my body. Because of my…my blood. _

_Its changing._

His stomach bubbled. Fear. Lack of control. The emotions tasted like toxin on his tongue.

Roxas stuffed the warm meat into his mouth before he could vomit. Juices ran down his throat. It tasted delicious.

"Mmmfff," the boy mumbled in appreciation as he chewed.

Axel grinned, tearing into his own piece. "Glad you like it. Venison is at the top of the menu from now on." Roxas gagged and almost choked. He quickly finished the rest of his slice before talking. "This is….-was a deer?!" he said, not too smoothly. The red-headed man gave him a deadpan look. He swallowed a chunk of meat before replying. "Yes. You need protein. Plus, it will help bring out the Lycan in you." Axel took another loud bite of his breakfast as he talked. "Tomorrow you will go hunting with us."

The food turned to ash in his mouth.

He wasn't hungry anymore. Not at all.

Axel's brows knitted. For a moment, Roxas caught the softer side of the man he had glimpsed at the hotel. The gentle, nearly paternal-like concern he had worn as he fed Roxas soup and yogurt and tenderly, oh so tenderly bathed him and cleaned his wounds.

Roxas remembered the feeling of the man rasping a towel over his neck. Remembered lying with his head against a large chest as the man wrapped him in blankets, his aching body bound to the couch.

"But...you don't have to if you choose not to," Axel said after a moment. He got up and gathered all the meat from the fire. He piled it in the aluminium sheet stretched on the log beside him and then folded it all up. He looked back to Roxas. "This is all for you. Since you probably won't prefer raw prey for a long time more."

Again, the boy felt slightly sick to his stomach.

He hadn't thought of that…. Sure, the part about having claws was cool. Cool, once the pain of growing said-claws was taken out of the equation. And being so strong and so fast was definitely a bonus. But killing animals? Eating them…raw?

"I….I don't know if I'll ever get used to that," he said aloud.

Axel looked at him for a long time. The man nodded. He walked to the backpacks by the tent and deposited the packaged meat inside one. Then, he took the pack upon his shoulders and zipped the remaining one into the tent. He returned to stand behind Roxas. The boy was still staring into the fire when he felt the man put a thick coat around his shoulders. Swiftly, Roxas moved to accommodate Axel's intent. He slipped his arms through the sleeves. He was still as the man pulled up the zipper and wrapped a scarf around his neck.

The Lycan was silent as he preformed his tendings. Roxas tried not to breathe too loudly. Tried not to stare at Axel's bright green eyes. Had he never really noticed their extraordinary color before? He wondered if he was turning red. Then the irises of interest flashed to his. Roxas started and looked back helplessly. Axel straightened. His hands were still on the scarf, his knuckles lightly brushing Roxas' neck. "Demyx and Namine are on patrol. If Xemnas intends an ambush, we will know." Roxas wasn't listening. He was fixed on Axel's face. A face that was….not ugly. That was as startlingly fascinating as the rest of him. The boy had to fight the impulse to trace a line down a cheek that had once bourn a tattoo.

Axel pulled away with a slight tug on the scarf. He stepped back, his adjustments to the boy's wardrobe complete.

"We are going deeper into the forest to begin your first lessons that come with the change."

Roxas blinked, sucking in a deep breath. "Oh... Good. Yeah, good." Was he supposed to be pleased? Like he was ready to become a giant wolf? A wolf that, last time he had checked, didn't exactly think of itself as human in the slightest…

_But I_ am_ a human first. Axel and Namine and Demyx were lucky. They were wolves first. Becoming human is easy. But….but turning into a beast…-I don't know if I want to go through that again. If I even _can.

Sadly, he didn't have another option. He was with the three Lycans for better or for worse.

Roxas sighed a misty puff and followed Axel. They made their ways into the forest, only the birds adding noise to the cold air.

* * *

><p>They seemed to walk for miles. Roxas wasn't exactly a good judge of distance. Walking home from school had been a daily routine for him. He had considered himself relatively in-shape because of this. Even his initial hike through the forest after he left the city hadn't been <em>too<em> trying until he got caught in that blizzard.

But squishing through ankle-high snow in endless, endless steps had made him completely re-evaluate his physique. His feet felt solidly frozen after the first couple hours. Every time he lifted his leg, it was not a fleshy foot he raised, but a solid chunk of ice. The air didn't help either. It was thin and dry. If walking and keeping up with Axel's long-legged pace wasn't hard enough, the ordeal of preventing his lungs from combusting was certainly the hardest of his tasks.

Axel would stop at random intervals to let Roxas catch his breath and drink water out of a bottle from the pack. Words beyond "Drink this" or "Take another break" were not said. Roxas wondered silently if something had changed inside of Axel. It wasn't as if they were really 'friends'. It was….complicated. They had certainly been through a lot. Axel had saved his life, healed him, and been a steady anchor through the mess his existence had become. But, idle banter seemed harder and harder to find. They used to talk. Roxas had once thought Axel had actually wanted to know the young-man he had pulled from the grip of death. Now…

Now, he genuinely acted like the wolf he was. Cool. Controlled. He was in his true element and the traits he had set aside for a human city had been reclaimed. Roxas sighed softly to himself as he trudged through a particularly thick patch of snow. His ankles were completely numb. Cold was beginning to vibrate in his bones. But he ignored it. He was over-thinking things. As usual.

He puffed out a steamy breath and stopped thinking about the man in front of him.

_Focus. This isn't about him. This is about __**you**__. You staying alive and getting through all of this._

He grunted and forced himself up hill. When he cleared the white incline, Axel was waiting for him. The man's ruby hair glinted in the light. He looked at Roxas for a moment before shrugging off his pack and setting it on the ground. He stood in a circle with a roughly 2 meter radius cleared from all snow. Brown soil looked welcoming amidst the blankness around. Roxas quirked a brow but said nothing. He worked his way to the circle and relished the feeling of air around his feet instead of ice.

"We will sit here and meditate. The most important tool you have as a Lycan is control. Control of your body and thoughts. It is through will alone that you can stimulate your flesh from taking one form and letting go of another." Axel moved Roxas into the center of the circle. Then he began to pace around him, his deep words ringing with gravity as they echoed in the woods.

"For changelings, it is very hard to maintain control of a new form. For you, your Brother Wolf nearly consumed you upon your first change." Roxas sat down and began rubbing life back into his feet. "Brother…wolf?" he repeated. The term was completely alien to him. Axel continued his slow steps. "Yes. Your Brother is your instincts of a wolf solidified into a voice. A voice you can hear inside of your head, instead of the reactions in muscles and blood pressure that pure animals experience. The life of a Lycanthrope is very unique. They are at once two creatures. Lupine and humanoid. Thoughts, reason, feelings. The human side. Hunger, instinct, power. The wolf side, all of these traits blended always into one entity." He felt Axel lean down and position his mouth by his ear.

"In your wolf form, it is essential that you have the control enough to hear your Brother Wolf. He will guide you and help you maintain both halves of your spirit simultaneously. With control and calm, you will be able to hear your Brother as clearly as you hear me now." The vibrations of Axel's voice danced in his ear. He swallowed thickly, seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. A voice in his head? It sounded bizarre but also completely wanted. Roxas didn't remember much of his first change. Of losing himself to an energy that shredded his thoughts. It had been so hard to think. As if the slightest idea was destroyed before he even come close to reaching it. At that moment, when he had had fangs and claws and furs for the briefest of times, he had not been himself at all. Lost. It was him in the darkness, all alone.

A voice to guide him during the chaos of the change seemed like the first pro he had spied on a long list of cons. He wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. If suffering another personality in his head as he changed was the price in order to retain his humanity, he would do anything in his power to pay it.

"I want that. This whole Brother thing. Trust me I do," Roxas started. His feet were a vanishing cause. The core-shaking cold that had started in his toes was now working its way up into his chest. The boy wrapped his arms around himself and rubbed vigorously.

"The thing is: I didn't hear a sound last time I transformed. In fact, I couldn't even hear _myself_." Axel stopped his monotonous walking. His fingers coiled themselves around Roxas' shoulders and the boy stopped shivering. Roxas stared out at the pines before him. The multitude of trunks and needles and endless flakes of white. He wasn't concerned about this. About the fact that civilization was far out of reach and that, if anything went wrong, it was just him and the snow. Always the snow.

"Patience, Roxas. This is why I brought you here. So you can find yourself, and the Lycan in your veins."

It suddenly felt final. Dreadfully final.

Like the swinging of an axe blade. The pulling of a trigger.

Roxas shrugged off the hands and felt his heart speed up like a racing train. His breath was fog pouring from his lips. He pitched his head up, madly seeking the pair of eyes that always had all the answers.

"Do I….do I have to do this?"

His answer hung in the clear air like a dark thing. A blight upon the formerly pristine atmosphere.

"No. You do not," Axel said softly.

Roxas took in a deep breath. He knew.

He was just buying time. Because he had no intentions what-so-ever of going back to the city and attempting a normal life. How could he? Now that he knew what he really was. Knew that he had a chance of a real family, a real purpose.

_I'm scared. Scared of becoming that…that _thing_ again. But I have to try. I will become the wolf. The right one, this time. _

He let out a resigned sigh and faced the trees. His hands gripped his knees with shaking fingers. "Tell me what I have to do." He felt Axel smile above him. The large hands returned to his shoulders. "I am going to change back into a wolf. Then, you will have to quiet your mind. Let go of all thoughts. Of all fear. Just listen to your body."

Roxas closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Listen to your lungs, the air moving through them."

He let out the breath. The air plumed out into the snow, eddying like currents in a stream.

"Hear your heart beating, filling your body with strength. Feel the pounding of your blood."

He did. He felt his body pulsing. Even in the cold, in the frigid iciness of his legs, he felt the red liquid carrying life to all the avenues of his body.

"Just. Listen."

The clearing went deadly quiet.

The noises of the breeze through the tree tops filled his ears. The rustling of little animals in the leaves. Birds chirping. Fluttering. Wind and sunshine.

Then there was something akin to an explosion behind him.

His senses went white hot. His hands balled into fists on his jeans. He clenched his jaws. Now he was hearing. Oh yes. His blood was like a hammer in his skull. His body was pulsing. Moving. _Shifting_.

_Oh. Oh crap here it comes. _

His brain was still flooded with white light. He couldn't see anymore. But he felt. He felt things as if his sensitivity had soared to the most extreme of levels.

Then, to contrast the sharpness of it all, he felt a thickness of warm fur suddenly roll against his back.

Roxas stiffened.

A large snout nuzzled into his neck, the wet nose of a wolf smearing moisture into his pores.

_Do you hear me, Roxas?_

He tried to answer. But it seemed so very hard to find the words. The light, it was still in his head. Pushing at the backs of his eyeballs, leaking tears down his face. Making his skin itch. His knees were stinging. He clenched his fingers harder and the pain spiked. Claws. Yes, there were his claws. Why were they always the first thing to arrive?

_Yes. I do but….but I can't talk. _

_It's okay Roxas. Relax. That's just fine. _

Roxas jerked a nod. He tried to regain the level of stability he had had only seconds ago. The whole listening peacefully to his lungs and heart. It was immensely challenging. His blood was pounding erratically. And breathing? That was something he did in giant, noisy gulps. It was not a sound he particularly wanted to pay attention to.

_My transformation is stimulating your own. This happens with all Lycans. It is only because you are so new to your blood that you are having a hard time coping. But this reaction will become much easier to extinguish. Do not worry. Try to relax your body. Think. Just think. _

Roxas nodded. He was aware. He was super-aware of all things. Even the small beads of sweat dripping down his brow and into his eyes felt like lead weights against his skin.

_I am __**really**__ uncomfortable right now. _

He splayed out his fingers, commanding them to be stiff. He was tried of mutilating his legs. He felt the lengthening blades of his fingertips. Even his toes seemed to be developing such edges. There was something else. Something like….warm blankets being stuffed under his pants and shirt. He wanted to tear off his clothing. It was too restrictive. The blankets…they were too thick!

_Aw damn. That's the fur. _

He shook his head, clenching his teeth.

_You need to relax Roxas. Listen to your thoughts, not your body. _

_Okay okay! I'm…I'm listening…and…..and I've got nothing. Okay? Nothing._

_Damn it!_

He wanted to itch. He _really_ wanted to put his damnable claws to use, tear his jeans to shreds and let his fingers have their way with the fur piling up around his skin.

The nose was on his face. Prodding at his cheeks. He didn't dare push it away.

_I'm listening. I'm listening…. I'm not thinking about itching. No. __**NOT**__. Thinking about. ITCHING. _

_I'm…I'm…._

_**Itch. Go ahead. Do us both a favor. **_

Roxas didn't have to be told twice. Using only his senses, for his eyes were still blind, he neatly cut two slices down the legs of his jeans. They slipped off like butter. The boy let his head roll back and loosed out a slow, luxurious sigh of relief. Then he cut off his shirt and let the cool air find its way into his hide. He took to his hands and knees and ruffled the glossy fur that now covered most of his body. A body that somehow managed to remain human its shape.

_Strange…. Nothing hurts. Last time, _well everything_ hurt. _

_**That is because I am here. **_

Roxas paused. He blinked, perking his ears. This also gave him pause. So…now he had ears that he could swivel to cup sound coming from nearly any angle. He could definitely get used to that. He moved the ears, giant ears that felt so strange mixed with the skin of his scalp, in a plethora of directions. That voice. Where was it coming from?

**Give it up. You know what I am. **

Roxas swallowed loudly, ears pressing against his skull.

_You're….you're him. _

_**I am me. And I am you. **_

The light behind his eyes began to slowly rise in intensity, as impossible as it seemed. Roxas rolled to the ground. He screamed, cradling a head that seemed to be fracturing into a thousand pieces.

_Stop! Please, make it stop!_

_**You will listen to me from now on? **_

_Yes!_

_**And give me reign when I so deserve it?**_

"Yes, yes anything you want!" Roxas screeched, curling into a pathetic ball as sweat and blood swirled into dizzying cocktails within his flesh.

A picture of a tan wolf with a hide that gleamed faintly golden in the light filled his head, the only picture to come forth from the searing whiteness. The palest of blue eyes stared into his, black lips pealing back to reveal a cache of pointed, ivory teeth.

_**Welcome home, Brother. **_

The white fire broke the mental dam of his mind and flowed ruthlessly forwards to bathe his body in searing flame.

* * *

><p>...…..<p>

...….

...

Roxas smiled drunkenly to himself as he blinked open his eyes.

He didn't quite now why, but he felt great.

Absolutely great.

He sat up, and nearly crashed his face against Axel's.

Roxas yelped and managed to put his hands between them and stop his trajectory.

The red head peered down at him, unfazed.

"Good. You're spending shorter periods asleep now," he said, in slightly too pleased of a tone.

Roxas frowned. It took him a brief moment to realize he was draped across the man's lap. And that he was wearing a different set of clothes. Now, sweatpants and a mismatched sweatshirt clad his limbs. His former jeans and jackets were no where to be found. He sighed. Axel was keeping him warm. Why?

"I destroyed my clothes, didn't I."

The Lycan nodded, a small grin curling on his lips.

Roxas sighed and moved his hands into his line of sight.

Unsurprisingly, they had resorted back to their human shapes. The dull tips and rather jagged nails were as familiar as they ever were. He wondered if there would ever be a point at which they would just remain claws.

"That will not happen. A Lycan cannot be two of his forms at once. Not externally."

The boy ran a hand through his hair, catching the knots and furiously yanking them out.

"So…I guess I've reached the next level, huh? Since, you can read my thoughts now…or something." Axel grinned again. An act that had Roxas feeling as he might just have achieved something of worth. Yes, getting in touch with his Lycan blood was a pretty sweet deal. But the sight of seeing Axel grin, as he had before they were teacher and student (a role he only just realized that he had donned), before there were any obligations or duties between them.

Back when they had been….friends.

Maybe they still were.

"You have come quite far today, Roxas. I can smell your lupine scent even more strongly now. And I can read your senses, not your thoughts, even more efficiently. The skill of deciphering reactions and intentions without words is a useful tool when we are wolves, as our faces become much less expressive than human ones."

We. Our. He liked the word choice there.

Roxas reflected that he had never heard Axel talk so extensively before. He had said more in that day than he had during their near week together at the hotel.

_He _likes_ being the Alpha. The teacher_, he thought, as secretly as was still possible.

Roxas let himself melt into a more languid position. His head settled against Axel's shoulder as his hands curled themselves into his sweater's pockets. He yawned, feeling another nap come on.

_I did it. I didn't lose control. I didn't become a monster. I'm still….me. _

Feeling utterly satisfied, he drifted off into idleness. He was alert enough to feel a hand bury itself in his hair.

"I never thought one with only a fourth the blood of a full Lycan could come so far," he heard Axel whisper, as if to himself.

"Yes. Yes, this is right." The fingers continued to flow gently through his tresses.

Roxas closed his eyes and drifted back into darkness.

He smiled a small smile. _I couldn't agree more_.

* * *

><p>Aw. I reallylike this chapter. Though, I will probably go back to Axel's POV after this. Spoiler: Action is on the way! I can't wait for Roxas to prove himself, though I am trying hard to pace this story. Cuz, we've all been rooting for Roxy this whole time right? XD I know I have. Thank you, as always, for all your reviews guys! I hope you liked this chapter, too.<p>

-Kirin


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: A Kiss**

Axel noticed a change in the boy the instant he made contact with his Brother Wolf.

The Alpha reflected upon it now as he sat around a coalescence of flames. Roxas was off in the trees, out of sight but still comfortably close in his nose and ears, collecting firewood.

His eyes studied the slope of his fingers. The clean, smooth skin, the oval nails. His glamour knitted itself back together after every change. Cuts or knicks or any other injury received while in human form were mopped away like mist on a window's glass after the transition was made back to Lycancy. His body sometimes amazed him. How it could be so much stronger than any other creature that bled and breathed, how it could heal so quickly and morph to different structures so easily? When he thought about it, he could think of no other that could claim such an array of talents as their own. Not the frog that could walk from water to land. Not the caterpillar that could fly from land to sky. These things had the ability to change, but not the ability to fight. To overpower. And other animals with power, like tigers or bears or the ant, could not slip into a different skin when the desire so suited them. The Lycan was undeniably nature's most beloved son. He was her most recent result of a supreme being.

Axel titled his hand, analyzing its tan perfection from a different angle.

Now, the boy could claim this perfection too.

He felt it like the first scent of spring in his nostrils. It: That moment when Roxas crossed the line from being only human, to being both human _and_ Lycan. It was bright. It was silver, like harsh sunlight reflecting off of opal snow. Birth. Life. Roxas had finally come into his own. Axel grinned a little. He wasn't one to get overly emotional (not counting his time at the hotel). For most of his years, he was hard. He was cold. Like steel: a human creation he highly admired. It could not stop the power of his claws, but it came close. Axel was a creature who killed and murdered and spared softness for only two. For Namine and Demyx. The rest of his environment received the hunter he was at his core.

Even for all this. For all these decades of numbness, the feel of experiencing a fellow Lycan find his true spirit was a happening that nearly made him….giddy. Giddy like a youngling, ready to howl or romp or run through the trees and feel the air in his lungs, the taste of the forest. The Pack always rejoiced when a pup successfully achieved his or her first transformation. It was the closet thing they had to a holiday. The hierarchy was disbanded for only a moment and the lowest wolves and the highest wolves played and groomed and reveled in moonlight. On these days, pairs consummated their pairing. Males sung hymns of affection for their mates and females let their glossy fur shimmer in the starlight for theirs.

Axel felt the blood simmer at the memory of the ancient celebration. A celebration of one more member of a sparse and special species being welcomed into the world.

Today, Roxas was truly born. He was now the being he had always been, even though it had slumbered beneath his skin for 20 years.

The Alpha smiled contentedly in the warmth of the flames. A small picture wormed its way into his heart, though, before he truly lost himself to joy. The image or Roxas' eyes turning stark, glacial blue. It was a common enough color for Lycan wolves to bare. It was the signal that Roxas had reached his Brother. And yet…

Yet the boy had not _completely_ changed. He had emotionally, instinctually. Axel felt the deep resonance of the boy's inner wolf as surely as the Roxas had. Felt in his own bones and muscles the shift in the boy's spiritual signature. But his body had remained stubbornly human. There had been fur. They had been claws. Even his ears had released their human shapes and rippled into the furry triangles of a wolf's.

That had been the extent of it. The boy's body had not swelled into that of a true wolf, a large, mighty hunter with snout and paw and tail. No- Roxas' arms and legs and even the lines of his hands and feet had, somehow, found themselves incapable of shedding their mortal frame. Why? Why could this be when his Brother had been granted free access to the boy's DNA?

Axel sighed. Yes. That's why he had told the boy to go off to collect branches and debris alone. He had wanted to remain by the fire to ponder this. To ponder, once again, the enigma that was Roxas.

_Perhaps it is a result of his childhood among the humans? His mind has trained itself to believe he is one of them…_ _It is a learned behavior that is very strong: A survival mechanism. I fear…I may not have the time to override such a thing…_

Axel blinked as his senses flared. He heard the boy approaching. Axel could feel the extra weight on him, for his arms were laden with sticks, and hear the crescendo of the boy's hummed tune. The Alpha also sensed the hunger in the boy. The yearning of his stomach. Nothing drained energy more from the body than a transformation.

Axel got up and walked to the tent. He pulled out a pack and claimed the aluminum bundle that packaged Roxas' food rations and a cantine of melted snow. The Alpha then resumed his brood by the flickering tongues of flame. He placed the water and food on the ground and pushed a hand into his jacket pocket. Fingers traced the edges of the container of Namine's scent-blocking concoction. They would all have to reply a layer to their bodies if they wanted to maintain their cover. Axel would remind the boy the moment of his return.

Green eyes darkened, remembering the cause of Namine's invention.

_Xemnas._

The wolf was closing in. Axel could feel it in his breaths like smoke- a steady, vile taste that refused to expunge itself from his senses. Not only that, the silver devil had the whole Pack trailing his heels. The other 11 members had rarely been assembled. Usually, the different subgroups had constant duties in the city, be it a boss to mercenary for or a toll to collect. Xemnas' Lycan hold on the city was complete and never waning. But recently, his tyranny had been put aside for a brief period. The Tyrant was out on the hunt, and he was taking all his hounds with him.

_They're coming for us. And they will soon find us. _

Axel had known the hotel has been only a temporary hiding spot. Even their niche in the woods, clouded by Namine's formula and by the welcome, dampening effect of snow, was not secure. Nowhere was.

_I am not afraid. I am Alpha here. I am the strongest. _

Crimson brows knitted together. Slowly, his stretched his hand out to the fire, testing to see how close he could get before he felt the pain of burn. He was nearly touching the writhing ribbons when the heat found its way into his skin. The Alpha ignored the sting. He pushed further on. On until his hand was immersed in dancing light. Axel clenched his fist. The paper thin membrane around his knuckles browned and then charred to black.

He didn't even flinch. White pain radiated in his arm and up into his brain, blaring at him to retreat. Axel slowly, with the cold calculation of breaking a neck, of slicing an artery, unclenched his hand and let the flames taste his fingers.

He would kill any of his Pack members if it came to that. He would not shy from pain or hesitate because of it. Because, he knew the other Lycans were out for blood. Namine would have to fight them. Demyx would have to fight. Even Roxas, so new and blinking in the light of this Lycan world, would have to fight.

_But I will fight the hardest. I will protect us. I will protect _him.

Roxas chose this moment to enter the clearing.

Axel heard the all the gathered sticks drop to the ground. Casually, he turned to face the boy, amusement and pain electrifying over his lips.

"Axel what the _hell_?!" the boy shrilled, and ran to his side. It was only then that the Alpha coolly removed his hand from its torture. The charred thing hung limply in his lap. Smoke swirled off his fingers, and the blackened, red, throbbing flesh made the whole limb shake with injury.

But it would heal. Already it was healing: His body had the recipe for any form it needed. Axel closed his eyes and let out a long breath as his skin wove itself back together.

_First things first._ The boy crashed to a stop at his side and twittered nervously, wanting to help but not knowing what to do. He took his Alpha's arm gingerly in his hands and started at it in horror. The redhead let his eyes take in the boy. His mess of blonde hair. His freckled skin, freshly bronzed- the color of a new glamour. Then he took in the deep, ocean blue eyes. Jagged shards of paler blue floated like in them like ice.

_First, I must show Roxas who he really is. _

Axel smiled and willingly submitted himself to the boy's inept care and barrage of expletives.

* * *

><p>The sun reflected off the snow in sprays of pink and orange as it began its descent. Demyx let out a giant yawn.<p>

He lifted his fingertips to the sky. The bones of his back popped and whined satisfyingly. Inspired, Demyx rolled his right shoulder in its socket to create a whole new melody of happy crackling. The mowhawked man had spent all day patrolling the clearing for any hint of Xemnas. As it stood, the Alpha wolf was either stealthier than any of them had predicted, or he was not quite onto them yet. Demyx hoped for the latter. He pitched his eyes skyward and fought off despair.

The medic had a little patch of soil raised from the snow like a cushion beneath a nearby tree. He had crossed it dozens of times as he cycled in his patrol paths. Now, he was finally permitted to retire to it and have a long sit. Demyx let out another vaporous sigh as he settled down. He buried his chin into his hood. In all honestly, he didn't have any right to feel sorry for himself. Axel was the one who bore the brunt of their present situation. He was leader, he was their Alpha. Their every move and every consequence of this movement was his to keep. Demyx accepted this. Axel was a bit impulsive, and sometimes he was down right dangerous. Deymx had no clue to what was toiling behind the red wolf's eyes half the time. But whatever his choices, they were the sole reason that _any_ of them were alive today.

The fair-haired man grinned to himself. Faded memories played behind his eyes like a movie on a dusty screen. Axel had sheltered Demyx from his former Alpha since he'd been born as one of the weakest pups in his litter. When Demyx botched a mission, Axel served retribution. And when he could no longer do this and the medic's life was forfeit in the eyes of his Pack, Axel's voice was the only one that protested otherwise. Perhaps it was through this service to himself, and to Namine, that the Axel had started to become more than just a follower. He began to remake himself into a true Alpha- one that would give Xemnas a challenge and more. One that would beat him.

The smile quickly faded_. Ironic, old friend, that you have been forced to take so much life when you're so good at doing the opposite. _

The medic smelled Namine's bright, pink scent before he heard the crunch of her pawsteps. His stomach did its familiar dance and he took a deep breath of her. Of raindrops on flower petals. She appeared at his side some ten minutes later. Like a fish springing up from a river, the white wolf that was Namine burst out of the pines. She dug her claws into the snow the ease herself from a run into a light trot. Demyx couldn't help the smile that always crept onto his cheeks at the sight of her.

The white, furry Lycan pranced over to him and settled beside him in a flurry of snow drift. She leant down to wedge her snout under one of his arms. Demyx laughed and buried his hands behind her peachy ears. His tender scratching made her squeak with bliss before she withdrew.

The two stared at each other for a brief moment. Demyx, small and shivering in his coats. Namine, broadchested and panting, her black lips letting loll a pink tongue. She blinked her silver eyes and twitched an ear.

_Did you smell anything?_

Demyx was glad he was still Lycan enough to be able to read her messages with his glamoured eyes.

He shook his head and rubbed the thin hair of his scalp. His mohawk had fallen flat in the cold and now dripped over one side of his head. The medic now found his fingers combing the limpid locks. "I do not think he plans to strike tonight." The white wolf looked at him for a long moment. Then, she arranged her front legs into the snow. Meanwhile, her tail did a rhythmic, calm pattering on the ground. She was pleased with this information.

_Are you cold?_

Demyx smiled thinly. "No. I'm okay," he said softly. This answer didn't stop her from moving closer to him, draping her belly fur over his legs. Her body heat instantly enveloped him. He could have fainted with relief. Truthfully, he had been looking forwards to this moment all day. To the time when she would come to him and they could sit together in silence without the influence of Axel, or the curious eyes of the boy, or anything else. The medic quickly found his cold chased away. Feeling came back into his fingers. To thank her, he began to massage the bit of warm body closest to him. Namine's tail wagging increased slightly in frequency.

So they sat. Enjoying the sounds of the forest. Sucking in the blade-like cool of the wind. Basking the other's presence. Demyx savored every breath that was flavored with the sweet smell of Namine's fur.

When the sky had turned to dark pinks and purples, Namine moved her head into Demyx's lap. Automatically, his other hand came to run over the sleek snout.

His heart was a drum in his chest. He swallowed noisly. The medic prayed helplessly that his chest's thumping was soft enough to escape the wolf's notice.

He couldn't help it. He had fallen for her. Hard. For Namine, the fair, thin, yet so bright creature that she was. She was the only other soul he had counted among his friends during his time in the Pack. Axel had watched out for him. Why? Perhaps Demyx would never know. But Namine was something different. She didn't sit by him when the rest of the Pack was feasting on the latest kill because she wanted something from him. And she didn't suffer the duty of protecting him. Yet she bore his presence all the same. At first, Demyx tolerated the slight, pale wolf with silence. If she wanted to associate with the bottom, that was her choice. But then she kept coming. Some days, during his punishment of walking around the den during a blizzard or some other form of hazardous weather, he would find bright red berries in his path. Or tall, thin pinecones. Other cones were rotund and smelled of spices. These happy accidents soon became a regular occurrence. He knew it was Namine. He smelled her sugary signature all over the little gifts. As Demyx was regularly punished for his shortcomings, the medic regularly found more and more small parcels during in his path, as he marched through his sentences. Sometimes he even found blossoms. Soft, colorful blossoms that some genius nose had found beneath all the layers of frost.

Namine was an angel: A light in the dark. She was kind to him. Sweet to him, though she hardly received any sweetness during her days. It boggled Demyx's mind that none of their Pack valued such a rarity. Then again…..such Lycans had proved themselves very blind indeed. Xemnas had taught them to value only cruelty and darkness. That was why they hated his interest in healing. Why they despised Namine's purity. The girl was quickly inducted into Axel's group of misfits. It was undeniable that she and himself were the slowest, and the least violent wolves in the Pack. They were two of a kind, the white wolf and him. Axel must have seen this. Little Namine was the second to hold the honor of Axel's care. The red wolf gave her scraps of meat when she was given only bones. Demyx did the same. Together, the three became inseparable during those last days. Those days before….

_Before I was exiled. And both of them were ripped out of my life. _

Demyx clenched his fist in Namine's fur. It had been so hard to live without her. To interact with strange, noisy, stinking animals that were only something he pretended to be. He missed the smell of dirt, the sight of moon in the canopy. The nights under the starlight. He missed Axel. And her, always her. He was a human on the outside. He had to be. Humanity was the only world he had left to live in. But, on the inside, he was completely lost.

So he managed. He found a place next to a library to live in, and learned as much about medicine as he could form the nearby books. He had a passion for healing, now he had the freedom to explore it. Those inked words and the knowledge they provided were the only things that kept him sane through out it all. And he learned. And he practiced. And life became bearable.

He got a job and a salary. The years came and went. He nearly thought himself resigned to the eternity of the boring existence that awaited him.

And then she found him. She came crashing back into his life, with her eyes like water drops caught in a rainbow.

His heart did another shake as he remembered. His sweaty fist shook with the intensity with which he held it. _I am_ not_ letting her go this time._ Being apart from her made him realize how much she mattered. Her smile, the soft snorts she made in her sleep, the patches of orange on her ears. They were things he simply could _not_ do without.

_I love her. _

He suddenly remembered how close she was. His ears heated and he looked away. The white wolf cocked her head and her tail stopped. _Demy?_ The medic swallowed thickly and balled the loose hand on her snout. He moved it and buried it in the snow instead. The fire of cold that doused his skin was a welcome one. Shivers racked his body.

_I…I don't know where to start. I know she senses it. She'd have to be a _human_ not to. But…does she….could she…?_

The small wolf nosed his face. The cold touch of it on his cheek made him shiver again, but for a completely different reason. _Demyx, do you wish to return to camp?_

He took his muzzle in both her hands and pushed it away. The wolf made a deep sound in her throat. A question. She shifted her position to tower over him, letting her silver eyes glare down like storm clouds. _What is it Demyx?_

He smiled shakily and got up. She followed suit. Of course, she was on her paws by the time he had barely managed to crawl to his knees. The cold was getting to him. He had been in the snow all day with close to little food and he hadn't transformed into his Lycan form for so long. It worried him. It worried him that he had forgotten how to. That he might not feel so strong and warm and furry ever again…

But that wasn't the issue. The issue was that Xemnas was coming and he didn't know what to do about it. He would never return to the human city. To his apartment and his job and his useless accumulation of human bobbles. He was to stay with Axel. With Axel and his newest member of the misfits: Roxas. But that wasn't really it, was it? He was staying with her. With Namine: The wolf of his heart. He needed to tell her.

_Now. Now…I should tell her that I love her and that I'll always be here for her. That I'll die for her and…and… _

Once he was on his feet, he made his way through the snow to another tree. Evening had fallen. The snow covered ground was a mushy pit in the dark. He leaned bodily against the firm trunk like it was an island amidst a void of sea.

_I…I still have time. Perhaps I should ask Axel? He'll know what to do. He always does._

The wolf was at his back then. With one step, she glided around and started down her nose at him with wide eyes lined in khol. The world suddenly went quiet. The wind turned back on itself and fled. The twinkling stars went out like candle flames. It was just her.

Her and him.

He stood up on his toes to reach up and grab the curves of her face.

"Namine, whatever happens when he comes. When….when Xemnas gets here…," he started, his voice shaking in the frigid air. He looked away. Suddenly, the speech he had been building in his head for days shattered into a thousand pieces. "Well I….I-." Then the dark was filled with a plume of light. Demyx turned his face to avoid hurting his eyes.

A moment later, a small, nude girl stood before him, her feet hidden in the frost. Daffodil hair dripped around her shoulders. A pair of shimmering blue eyes had his breath catching in his throat. She was smiling. He officially lost the ability to swallow. To even think.

_Damn she's beautiful. _

Still wrapped in the hush of the trees, she stepped closer to him. Demyx stared. Then, he quickly unbuttoned his long jacket. In a flurry of fabric he enfolded her within his coat. She giggled when he flinched at the contact of her warm palms against his chest. After a second of catching his breath, he was tugging off his scarf and draping around her neck instead.

"Namine! It's….it's much warmer in your fur…," he started lamely. He didn't really know what he was saying. She was there. There against him and he could hold her in his arms and bury his nose in the slope of her shoulder and neck. He struggled to remain on his feet. The scent of her was the thickest of perfumes in his nose.

"I know, Demy. I know…. I missed you too," she whispered at him. Then she was grabbing his head and pulling him down. He didn't resist.

When her lips met his, he felt like a starving man taking his first bite of food. He didn't think that such a singularly human behavior would have been something he had so craved, and now presently so enjoyed. But he did. He couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her as tightly to him as he could. She eagerly leant into him, pinioning him against the tree. She tasted so sweet. Her mouth was so soft, even teasing. He wouldn't have expected anything less of the playful girl he had fallen helplessly in love with.

When she pulled away from him, he was wearing the most foolish smile he had ever worn in his life. Her giggle confirmed it: the sound tinkling of bells. He tenderly cupped her face and kissed her again. Kissed her lips, her eyes, her little ears, even the strands of her hair.

"I will protect you. I _can't_ lose you, Namine," he whispered hotly against her cheek. He found himself incapable, then, of doing anything but holding her. So strongly did he want to keep her. To save her in the cradle of his arms.

"You won't, Demy," she replied. He pulled back and smiled. Her nyphish grin was exactly where it was supposed to be. He laughed and adjusted his jacket and scarf around her so she was more covered. He admired her flushed cheeks in the dark blue of the night. The crickets came back out to chirp. The gleaming constellations returned to flicker in the sky. Life kept moving on. For once, Demyx wasn't afraid of moving forwards with it. He finally had his missing half.

"Well, now that _that's_ been done," he said throatily, giving her another kiss just because he could. "Let's zip you up into some of my clothes. Packmate or not, Roxas is nowhere _near_ ready enough to see you like this." Namine chortled and stood up to slip her arms around his neck, and the kisses started all over again.

* * *

><p>"I never know what you're going to do next, you know that?" Roxas sighed, staring at his meat. He picked at a piece with a finger. After flipping over a sliver to examine each side, he chose once more to leave it in its place on the foil.<p>

Axel felt slightly piqued at the comment. He frowned. The boy had fussed for a solid ten minutes before realizing he didn't know what to do. The Alpha had bore it all patiently. Then, he had appropriately washed his hand with water and let his own physique tend to itself. Together, they sat for the following moment it took for his blood to congeal and strip away the burnt flesh. Once the debris was gone, a fresh new coat of skin rolled forwards and packaged the red flesh back in its case. Then it was done; simple as that. The boy had been partially shocked and disgusted. Axel knew why. Surely, as a human growing up in the suburbs, he not seen many open wounds in his day. Even his own lacerations, received at Xemnas' claws, had not been witnessed by his eyes. Axel had made sure of this. Usually the boy was unconscious when the wolf cleaned the gashes and re-bandaged them. When he wasn't, Axel forced the boy to avert his eyes.

He had done so out of some, soft sentiment. A wish to preserve the boy's innocence? To save his mind from the crippled state of his body? What ever frivolous emotion it had been, he certainly didn't feel it now.

The face Roxas made at seeing Axel's blood was one that struck something in him.

He had felt sorry for Axel's injury. Granted, he didn't know it was just a small burn (at least to a Lycan). He didn't know the much more severe wounds Axel had suffered in his past. Wounds that had not take mere minutes to heal but several days…

Still, he felt irritated. Roxas had felt the need to pamper him like he was some invalid pup who didn't yet have the strength of body to heal a simple fire-lick, and this was unacceptable.

Axel snorted across the boy at the fire. He moved closer to his place at the flames to silently prove how miniscule a threat they posed. The boy narrowed his eyes at him. "It was nothing to concern yourself over," the Alpha said after a moment. Axel closed his eyes. His mouth had begun to snarl. He turned his face away from the light, letting darkness paint his lips. "Nothing?" Roxas echoed across from him. "You were _burning _your hand!" He wrapped his meat up with a metallic crinkling of aluminum. The boy had eaten little. After reapplying a layer of Namine's formula onto his skin, his appetite seemed to have vanished. He had consumed only a handful of slices. Axel noted this but stifled the urge to feed him more. He didn't quite feel like spoiling the boy more than he already had.

"I _told_ you," Axel said, slightly exasperated. "My body treats wounds such as those as little more than scratches. I was doing no real harm to myself." Roxas marched pointedly over the tent to return the meat to the pack. Then he glared over his shoulder at the wolf. His blue eyes had lost of some of their color. A charged kind of scent was coming off his skin. Axel inhaled is coolly. It was the boy's other half, stimulated by his anger.

Axel felt his irritation wax just a little more. What right did the boy to have to respond this way?

"Then what were you doing?" Roxas asked. All at once his irises flushed back to their normal deep indigo. He crossed to Axel's side but remained standing. The orange halo of a setting sun made his hair look like amber. "You….you really had me worried. I thought….damn I didn't know what I thought."

He was silent for some time. Then, he whispered his next words. "I thought you were in trouble and….and that I couldn't do a thing to help you," he said, then sighed. A hand ran through his flaxen spikes.

Axel blinked.

Suddenly, he felt cold. His momentary ire was drowned by the emptiness that now took his stomach. The boy wasn't berating him because he thought Axel had been weak. No. No, the Alpha's ability to heal was not the thing being questioned, or found lacking, as Axel had initially perceived.

_He….he was worried about me…?_

It was such a bizarre concept. Axel had long ago steeled himself to accept the bounty of emotions that humans were inclined to feel, and as Roxas was raised as a human, he too was subject to such 'feelings'. In fact, he had even admired the boy's ability to feel kindness and pride for creatures he didn't know. He had welcomed three Lycans into his life when they had been strictly strangers at the time. He had bourn a red-haired man's ministrations and even thanked him for it.

Now, he was feeling the need to protect this redhead. This wolf who had always been the protector, never the one _being_ protected.

Axel clenched his jaw, finding himself swept up the torrent of confusion he had thought himself rid of.

_Have I failed? I never thought I would give the boy a reason to question my strength. To feel that I could not alone handle anything that came my way. He…he should not feel responsible for my health. No… No it is the other way around, it _must_ be.._

_**Oh stop it. **_

Axel stiffened and gave his back to the boy. He felt the boy flinch back, as if the Alpha was purposely ignoring him. "Look, sorry I tried to help okay? Sheesh," Roxas growled. He pulled his hood over his ears and walked to the tent. He harshly tore the zipper up once he was in, the equivalent of slamming a wooden door. Axel cringed at the sound but did not follow. The sun had almost set now. Brushstrokes of violet now swirled in the sky and painted the treetops.

_Brother, I am the Alpha. I must be above question. Above care. Not Demyx, not Namine, and especially not the boy should ever feel the need to share my load. _

_**You are Alpha, Brother. **_

Axel clenched his hands. _Yes! Yes exactly. That is why I….well why I never thought the boy would be worried. That he would ever be presented with a reason _to be _worried. _

_**Are you listening? I said you are **_**Alpha**_**. Not that you are **_**Alone**_**. Being Alpha does not mean that you must alienate yourself from Pack. You are the heart of your Pack. You do not and can **_**not **_**stand apart from it. **_

Axel sighed and ran twin hands through his shock of red hair. He was tired of being in his human skin. It gave him the golden benefit of being able to communicate to Roxas through his native language. That was why he had reluctantly remained in it for so long. But aside from speech, he felt cold and tired and weary in the frail body.

_I…I understand. It is new. To feel…feel pleased about the fact that someone wants to help me. I have done everything by myself. Protected Namine and Demyx. Fed them, guarded them. Then the boy. I always felt like my own anchor. _

_**No longer, Brother. Your Pack is here for you. Let them be.**_

Axel was alone with the wind and the flickering flames as his inner-wolf returned the secret chambers of his heart.

The tall man sighed and knew what needed to be done. Though his pride was still tight in his throat, a stronger emotion throbbed in his chest. Something like...something that had him yearning to hold the boy as he once had.

He walked over the tent.

"Roxas," he called softly through the thin fabric.

He was met with obstinate silence.

"Roxas I….I must apologize. I thought you were calling me weak. I realize now that I…..was mistaken." The words sounded ridiculous on his tongue. He couldn't believe he was actually voicing such a confession. But he had to.

The passenger of the blue sleeping bag shuffled. "I've never thought you were weak. _Ever_." The boy's tone was still angry. And hurt. Roxas sat up and Axel imagined that he was throwing up his hands. "You're like….the most badass guy I've ever seen! How could I….? Just. Just whatever."

Axel closed his eyes, feeling even worse. He let the night speak for a moment. Darkness had officially fallen. Crickets now came out to play their tunes in the starlight. The wind picked up, letting the whole clearing fill with cool, brisk air.

"Roxas please come out. I understand that I was wrong. I will make this up to you."

The boy was still for an agonizing few moments. They he loosed a tortured sigh and wriggled out of his sleeping bag. Axel felt his insides warm with satisfaction. _Good. Now I can fix this mess._ He quickly took several strides away to give the boy his space.

Roxas emerged with a carefully trained frown. He seemed prepared to keep it fixed under all circumstances. It made Axel want to smile. But he didn't. He let the boy zip the tent back up and then face him, hands in his pockets and eyes averted off into the trees.

"I shall convey my apology by giving you another lesson in finding your Brother," he said.

The boy sighed, shoulders slumping. Axel hazarded a guess that he was expecting something that sounded a little less like a chore.

"Yeah okay," he mumbled.

The Alpha scooped up nearby snow and flung it onto the fire. After a couple more armfuls of snow, it was completely doused. He packed the snow across the blackened ash with a foot, replacing black with white and picking out any stray sticks or remnants of branches. When the area was successfully smooth and blanketed in frost, Axel walked past Roxas to retrieve a sleeping bag from the tent. He pulled it out and then spread it over the site where the fire had once blazed. It was the center of the clearing. It was here that they would win their best view of the heavens above.

The Alpha laid down of the un-zipped rectangle of sleeping bag, the plastic and insulating fabric providing a pleasant barrier form the snow beneath. "Come," he said, and motioned to Roxas with a hand. The boy didn't comply immediately. In fact, he took his time wandering over to the blanket. He eventually settled next to him with as much space between them as possible. But Roxas was no longer mad. The Alpha could smell it on him. His current behavior was just to punish.

The redhead smiled in the dark and shuffled a fraction closer to the boy at his side.

"Look up at the stars, Roxas," he bid softly.

He watched the boy tip his visage up. Then, Axel followed suit.

There were not many stars up yet. Night was still new, even though the sky was as dark as it ever was going to be. But some stars were resilient. Whether they were planets, or galaxies, or something even more massive and mysterious, they shone in the heavens like eternal torches. These select lights were always the first to take to their dark stage, and they were usually the most beautiful. The surrounding pine tops blocked out a large percentage of the sky. But the thin air and the surrounding winderscape guaranteed that the stars that _were_ visible, were extremely bright. Clear and shining like diamonds in a setting of sable marble.

"Wow," Roxas whispered after a moment of staring at the sky. "I….I never paid much attention to the stars before."

Axel was silent. Together, they basked in the beauty of the pinpricks of white brilliance.

"I guess….," the boy continued. "People don't really do that kinda' thing in the city." Axel was glad the boy was talking. He had fully intended on being firm for the remainder of the boy's training. Hard and silent and imposing. A model of strength form which a changeling could base his own. The Alpha knew now, that this method would not work. Roxas was different. How…how had he ever forgotten?

_He needs to talk. To have me talk back. I must accept his humanity. _It would be hard. He had thought he could abandon seeing Roxas as one of 'them'.

_No matter. Roxas is...himself. I am beginning to understand this.  
><em>

Lying there next to the boy felt so right. As if, the threat of Xemnas wasn't so close he could feel it on his neck like fangs. As if, the success of the boy's survival didn't depend on his ability to become a full wolf. None of it mattered. He was enjoying himself. Enjoying not having to lift himself up and above his friends, but be there, on their level. _With_ them. Apart of them.

"Being in a calm and quite place helps you hear your inner thoughts more clearly than anywhere else. I have found the stars to be great listeners. Whatever my Brother has to tell me, they are up there, helping me hear him. Their stillness. Their light. It always soothes me, and reveals my center," Axel said, his deep voice reverberating amidst the pine leaves.

He felt Roxas take a deep breath.

Then, so very slowly, he let it out.

Another eddy of wind swept across their bodies. The boy shivered. Axel closed the gap between them and put an arm around the boy's shoulders. "If you are cold, ask your Brother for warmth. Your body has the power to withstand the coldest conditions for months on end. We wolves are made for cold."

"Try. Try again to contact your center."

Axel spied a red color creep across the boy's cheeks. He didn't know if it was the bite of the snow or otherwise. He felt his own face grow warm in response. The man shook his head with a smile and looked back up towards the heavens.

A quick learner, Roxas' chest moved rhythmically as he took deep breath after deep breath. His eyes were focused upon the stars. They reflected in his eyes like the sheen of pearls. Twenty minutes passed this way. Axel drifted off into idleness. He found himself growing calm, nearly sleepy, as he listened to the boy's slow breaths.

Then, the blue eyes went wide. His whole body shook once, and then went stone still.

_He did it. Wow. _

A moment later, he felt the boy's body temperature spike. He had tapped into his stores of heat. In no time at all, it was not Axel lending his body heat to the boy, but both of them generating their own fires of warmth.

The boy turned to him. Only a foot or less separated their faces. The boy's breath ghosted over his lips. The brightness of his eyes were that of all the stars of the galaxy and much more. It nearly took his breath away. "I did it!" Roxas whispered heartily. The pleasure of his accomplishment was a sprinkling of gold across his skin. It was his Lycan energy manifesting upon his features. Progress. The boy was making progress.

_Soon, he will be able to change completely. I know it. _

Axel smiled.

It was then that he had the sudden urge to kiss the boy.

...

It was strange. Hands down, the strangest moment of the day.

Lycans did _not_ indulge in such affections. It was an invasive human behavior that no other animal found the need for. Wolves did not put their lips together. It served no purpose that a grooming or rubbing of snouts could not achieve. Axel understood that kisses were meant to bring human individuals closer together, as they did not have fur to groom or snouts to nuzzle with. He had lived amongst the creatures long enough to glean such an insight. But he had never once encountered the urge to imitate the action he saw on the human streets, in restaurants or on television.

Then again, he had never had someone he really had a reason to show intimate affection for. Not Namine, a sister to him. And not Demyx, a brother. No, any action like that of a kiss would be performed only for a mate. Axel simply didn't have the time to look for one. And, since he had no other females besides Namine that he counted among_ his_ Pack, he had resigned himself the truth that he would never find a mate.

And there he was, wanting to kiss someone. Not just anyone. Roxas, of all Lycans. The boy he had cared for and safeguarded and fought off the world for.

The boy lost his smile as Axel's gaze lingered on him for longer than usual. His blue eyes were still as lustrous as ever. But there was something else there now…. Perhaps something mirrored in the Alpha's own green gaze.

_No. I will not do this thing. _

Axel sat up and banished the warmth from his face. The odd pounding of his heart. All of it was extinguished and he was cold and calm once more.

Namine and Demyx entered the clearing not more than a moment later.

The girl was wrapped in Demyx's outer jacket with very likely nothing else underneath. The medic walked next to her, his arm firmly around her slight shoulders. Their scents were very intermingled. Axel understood at once that the two had very likely confessed their feelings to each other. Now, they were officially the mated pair he has always known they would be. His first reaction was a deep satisfaction. The Pack was getting closer together. If the two had pups, it would grow closer even still.

To a purely wolf Alpha perspective, their union signified greater cohesion.

But as a Lycan, with a human glamour and human experience interwoven into his spirit, he was sad. Sad that his little Namine had grown up and was no longer…..well his. But happy. Happy for his friend Demyx. Happy that together, they would make _each other_ happy.

Axel smiled at both and received the pair's beaming replies. Together, the three shared congratulations and were connected in a silent celebration.

"I guess….I'll go to the tent now... Night, Axel."

Green eyes swivelled back to the boy. Roxas was avoiding his gaze again. This time, not out of anger or petulance. Out of something….he still didn't have a handle on yet.

He was silent as the boy walked away. As the boy left his sight, the two smiling Lycans arrived at his side and commanded his attention.

"You…you approve?" Namine said to him, her small pink face completely subject to his judgement. Axel ruffled her hair tenderly in answer. "Of course," he said softly. Then, he looked to Demyx and found the other man to be practically glowing. "It's about time," the Alpha grinned. The younger Lycan laughed and gave Axel a hearty clap on the shoulder. Namine giggled and threw her arms around her two packmates, squeezing them together and reminding them what they had been through. That they were _together _again. Everything was as it should be.

But….Axel couldn't help but cast a glance over his shoulder as he held the new couple, wondering exactly where Roxas' place in all of this was. Things had changed. He hadn't meant to change anything. He liked where they had been. But now, he felt like he was back to square one with the boy. They were more than just friends. Than just teacher and student. What they were exactly…well, he suspected he had a long time more to go before he decoded that puzzle.

_Ugh. _He wondered to himself. _Humanity. Why are you so complicated?_

* * *

><p>Soorrrryyyyyy guys for such a long-coming update. Hopefully, this angsty little chapter was enough to win your forgiveness. Thank you SO much for all of the reviews! You really give me the inspiration to keep going with this. =) Roxas and Axel will make up, don't worry. They're all gonna' have to be united since Xemnas is almost here bum bum bbbuummm. Until next time! (Which I will try to make sooner, I swear lol)<p>

-Kirin


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